Last week, at around 2.30am I was passing through my regular short-cut between Guozijian and Fangjia Hutong, and saw a woman being slapped in the face by a man, as she was backing up down an alley, crying, and pleading for him to stop.

It only took me seconds to decide what to do and went to the local police station, which was luckily only 10 meters away, if that. Upon explaining the situation, I was told by the older male police officers on duty that, “it seems like they knew each other. Don’t mind them.”

“Don’t mind them.” They repeated as they urged me to leave, kind of snickering at how distressed I was, apparently a reaction stemming from awkwardness or because they genuinely thought it was hilarious that I had feelings.

I considered getting involved but in the end decided to walk away from the situation, realizing that it might bring more harm than good to myself, especially considering I wouldn't be able to rely on the nearby policemen. In the end, I took solace in the fact that the police merely walking over to observe the situation had stopped the man from slapping the woman in the face. Whether the beating continued in the "safety" of the couple's home is anyone's guess.

Living in Beijing can sometimes feel like living in a safe bubble, generally speaking, and I was completely caught off-guard by what I witnessed that night. To learn about the measures one can take if you happen to stumble across such behavior, I reached out to a Beijing-based NGO that deals with domestic violence. One member of staff told me that the police were unlikely to respond if you show up at their station, as there are official steps for reporting violence, a possible explanation for the blasé attitude I encountered. The situation depends on the victim reporting the abuse as a means to establish evidence of domestic violence, otherwise the police aren't obliged to investigate. These are the steps you should follow if you witness abuse:

1. Call 110 and tell the dispatchers the location and situation. If the 110 dispatchers receive a complaint, they are legally bound to send the police to the scene of the incident.
2. If you're calling 110 after receiving no face-to-face help from a local police station, as was the case in my situation, be sure to have recorded any badge numbers of those officers that you spoke to at the station (this should be on their uniform), and report them to the dispatchers. These two steps are the general legal response to violence on the street, and may not be covered under domestic violence law because, as stated above, you cannot establish evidence of domestic violence through hitting alone, unless the victim themselves admits to being beaten but at least the presence of the police should put a stop to the incident.
3. Also note down the badge numbers of any dispatched policemen and request that they record the incident if they're equipped with cameras (执法记录仪, zhifa jilu yi).
4. If it is a particularly risky situation it's probably best to leave the scene of the crime, but you must at some point identify yourself to the dispatchers over the phone as anonymous reports aren’t accepted. Dispatchers are not always cooperative (yay, China!), so it is important to remain composed and state the facts clearly. 

As of March 1, China's first anti-domestic violence law took effect, which will hopefully go some way to reduce the 50,000 reports of domestic abuse received annually and help the estimated one in four Chinese women that suffer at the hands of a spouse or family member.

The law takes steps to define family abuse, and streamlines the process of obtaining restraining orders, a huge step forward for Chinese human rights and one that will make enforcing the law easier. However, it still remains to be seen when these changes will take effect on the streets and if you'll be able to rely on your local policemen to intervene any time soon.

Margaux Schreurs(thebeijinger)