LEGISLATION addressing the problem of domestic violence is needed to protect Chinese women because the number of battered wives has soared in some Chinese cities in recent years, experts in women's issues say. In Shanghai, 29 per cent of appeals to the All-China Women's Federation in 1990 concerned domestic violence. This figure increased to 33 per cent in 1991 and 1992. Statistics show that in the first three months of last year, 50 per cent of cases handled by a district procuratorate in Shanghai concerned the physical abuse of women by their husbands. Although a law on the protection of women's rights was promulgated in 1992, Wang Xingjuan, president of the Women's Research Institute of the China Academy of Management Science, contended that many cases were left unsolved because mediating committees required co-operation from the victim and offender. A law specifically addressing the problem would be the 'fundamental' solution. Mental, physical and sex abuse should be written into the law targeting domestic violence, with respective penalties. It should also address the reality that many women were frequently battered and suffered various injuries, Ms Wang said. Last month, a hotline for domestic violence, the first of its kind in China, was set up in Beijing. It is a joint project of the Jinglun Family Centre, All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), Beijing ACFTU and the Workers' Daily. Li Guixin, director of the hotline, said 20 callers had aired their problems in the past month. Most lived in Beijing but there were callers from outside the capital. Ms Li said the problem was no better in the vast rural areas. 'There are less complaints from villages because they do not have telephones.' A survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last year showed that the number of battered wives in the villages was 1.8 times that in the cities. An earlier survey by the All-China Women's Federation and the State Statistics Bureau in 21 provinces had similar findings - 36.38 per cent of battered wives were in cities and 63.64 per cent were in villages.