Over the weekend, the Chinese government passed the country’s first ever national anti-domestic violence law. The law covers married as well as cohabiting couples but excludes gay partners. From The Guardian:

The law prohibits any form of domestic violence, including psychological abuse, and helps streamline the process for obtaining restraining orders.

[…] The law also covers unmarried people who cohabit. Asked at a news conference whether this included gay couples, Guo Linmao, a member of the legislative affairs commission of parliament’s standing committee, said the law was a response to specific problems discovered.

“There are a lot of examples of domestic violence between family members, and also between people who cohabit,” Guo said. “As for homosexuals in our country, we have not yet discovered this form of violence, so to give you a certain answer, it can be said that people who cohabit does not include homosexuals.” [Source]

The following are the five general provisions included in the law, translated by users at China Law Translate:

On BBC, the University of Chicago’s Dali Yang discusses the new law: