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Social media personality Lhamo (L) with her alleged killer and ex-husband Tang Photo- Nextshark

The murder of a famous Tibetan Vlogger by her ex-husband in Eastern Tibet has sparked questions on domestic violence and its laws in China. The Tibetan vlogger, Lhamo, who had more than 85,000 followers on the Chinese Tik-Tok substitute Douyin, was stabbed, doused with petrol and set on fire by her ex-husband Tang when she refused to return to his home on September 14. He had broken into her home where she was live streaming at the time. The incident not only raised debate on China’s domestic violence law and how it is affecting its occupied countries, including Tibet, it has also prompted Tibetans to question the prevalence of domestic violence both in Tibet and in exile.

Despite the intensive internet censorship and surveillance by the Chinese authorities within the mainland and its occupied territories, domestic violence has gained attention of the global media with subsequent pressure on the Chinese Government to review its domestic violence laws. Jianyu Feng, a Shaghai-born journalist and columnist, has written about domestic violence and about Lhamo’s case, saying “Tibetan influencer Lhamo’s murder is a grim reminder that China still fails victims of domestic violence”.

Lhamo had divorced and remarried Tang who she had known since her teens; he turned violent and started assaulting her. Lhamo was not just fighting for her own life, she was also fighting for the safety of their two children. She sought help from the police on multiple occasions but her complaints were never taken seriously and she did not receive the protection she needed. A local police officer told Guyu Lab, a Tencent-backed digital media, “Lhamo had lodged several complaints against Tang over the years when she felt her life and the lives of her two children were at risk, but officials always treated the abuse as a private, family matter that didn’t warrant their serious intervention”.

Photo: Image from @CatchUp性别平等姐妹

A woman in Henan Province last year was left paralysed after jumping from the window of a second-story building to escape the violence of her husband. The local court denied her plea to end the marriage. Only after sharing her story on social media was she granted a divorce. Jianyu Feng wrote,“despite domestic violence being a serious issue that has significant negative implications for Chinese women, the country still lacks adequate, timely protections for victims of intimate partner violence”.

The All-China’s Women’s Federation and National Statistical Bureau’s study on domestic violence in 2010 says that 27.4 percent of Chinese people experience domestic violence and there was no law against sexual harassment or marital rape in China, citing this as the reason why police officers, judges and even the victims themselves struggle to identify domestic violence as an act that requires outside involvement. Domestic violence is often considered as an inside issue or a private matter to be resolved closed doors. When China’s National People’s Congress first adopted the Anti-Domestic Violence Law of the People’s Republic of China on December 27, 2015 and then acted upon it on March 1, 2016 it was widely celebrated as a huge victory by social activists and feminists.

However, the law lacks clear demarcations and the efficacy to provide adequate legal protection to victims, according to the Working Committee on Children and Women (WCCW) which was designated as the leading body to address domestic violence related issues.

Hannah Feldshuh, a Geopolitical Analyst at China Policy, a Beijing-based policy advisory firm, says in her article Domestic Violence in China and the Limitations of Law that even with the few cases reaching court, judges and officers are likely to pressure the victims into mediation, which again leaves them vulnerable to future assaults and violence.

Tenzin Pelyoun, gender activist and co-founder of Drokmo, an organisation based in Dharamshala whose mission statement says that it is “Working towards the dream of a safer, healthier and gender-equal world”, says of Lhamo’s murder, “ the crime not only highlighted the poor state of legal provisions and measures available to support gender based violence victims in Tibet, but also reminded [us] that we continue to live in an oppressive and patriarchal society wherein men continue to exert power and control, and strip women of their choices and agencies without any fear for consequences.”