The New Chinese Mental Health Law

Abstract

A new national mental health law for China came into force in 2013, extending the cover of mental health legislation to a further 20% of the world's people. This article focuses on the new law's civil commitment regime. It analyses the provisions governing compulsory hospitalisation, review of compulsory status, and the powers of patients' guardians. We ask whether the rights-oriented form of the new law is likely to be reflected fully in practice, in light of the dominant role accorded family members in decision-making about compulsory hospitalisation, and in light of the limits imposed on the protection of individual rights by the prevailing judicial and medical cultures in China.