Refusing to pay his 77-year-old mother RMB 200 a month: eight months in prison

Case summary

A trending story headed "man jailed for eight months for refusing to pay his 77-year-old mother's support" has attracted a good deal of attention. At first sight it easily reads as a case of a child jailed for eight months for being unwilling to support an elderly parent, so this writer read the report in detail.

In fact the matter arose from a lawsuit brought on 11 July last year by a 77-year-old woman surnamed Wang of Guanba village, Tuxi town, Fenggang county, against her children over her upkeep.

Mrs Wang had five children with her husband. After her husband died she lived alone in accommodation provided by her eldest son. At first she was still fairly robust and had no great difficulty living on her own, but as she grew older her health declined day by day, she gradually lost the capacity to work, and with no source of income her life became hard to sustain. In those circumstances the five children were still passing the responsibility between them and had never agreed how she should be provided for, so she had no choice but to sue them.

On 11 July 2018 the Fenggang County Court held after trial and ordered each of the five children to pay her RMB 200 a month, payable every six months from July 2018.

Once the judgment took effect, however, the third son, Ren, never paid anything. His position was that his mother's lawsuit had been instigated by his brothers and had made him lose face before his fellow villagers, so he refused to pay. Village and group officials tried to persuade him several times, but he still refused.

At the enforcement stage the Fenggang County Court notified Ren repeatedly to perform his obligation, but he not only ignored the notices but was aggressive and abusive towards the enforcement officers. As he was suspected of refusing to execute a judgment or ruling, the court decided to refer the case to the public security authorities for investigation.

On 31 July 2019 the Fenggang County Court heard the case in open court and convicted Ren of refusing to execute a judgment or ruling, sentencing him to eight months' imprisonment.

The law

Article 313 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, headed "refusing to execute a judgment or ruling", provides that a person who, being able to execute a judgment or ruling of a people's court, refuses to do so and the circumstances are serious, is sentenced to criminal detention, a fine or fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years; where the circumstances are especially serious, to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three and not more than seven years and a fine. Where a unit commits the offence, the unit is fined and the person directly in charge and the other persons directly responsible are punished in accordance with the preceding paragraph.

Ren was therefore sentenced to eight months solely because he refused to execute the judgment and ruling, not because he failed to support an elderly parent.

Respect for the elderly has always been a traditional virtue in China, and a failure to support elderly parents is indeed unlawful. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China and the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly all contain express provisions safeguarding the lawful rights of the elderly and securing their livelihood.

Article 14 of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly provides that supporters shall perform the obligations of providing for the elderly financially, attending to them in daily life and giving them spiritual comfort, and shall look after their special needs; that supporters means the children of the elderly and others who are under a legal duty to support them; and that the spouse of a supporter shall assist the supporter in performing the duty.

Who exactly are the supporters?

Article 21 of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China, headed "parents and children", provides that parents have a duty to raise and educate their children and that children have a duty to support and assist their parents.

Article 25, headed "children born out of wedlock", provides that children born out of wedlock enjoy the same rights as children born in wedlock, and that no one may harm or discriminate against them.

Article 26, headed "adoptive relationships", provides that the State protects lawful adoptive relationships, and that the rights and obligations between adoptive parents and adopted children are governed by the provisions of the Law on the relationship between parents and children.

Article 27, headed "step-parents and step-children", provides that step-parents and step-children may not maltreat or discriminate against one another, and that the rights and obligations between a stepfather or stepmother and a stepchild whom he or she has raised and educated are governed by the provisions of the Law on the relationship between parents and children.

Article 28, headed "grandparents and grandchildren", provides that grandparents and maternal grandparents who are able to do so have a duty to raise grandchildren and maternal grandchildren who are minors and whose parents are dead or unable to raise them, and that grandchildren and maternal grandchildren who are able to do so have a duty to support grandparents and maternal grandparents whose children are dead or unable to support them.

The supporters here may therefore be children born in wedlock, children born out of wedlock, adopted children, stepchildren under a legal duty to support, and grandchildren and maternal grandchildren.

In what circumstances may a child be released from the legal duty towards elderly parents?

Article 21 of the Marriage Law provides that parents have a duty to raise and educate their children and that children have a duty to support and assist their parents. In practice, where a parent has committed an offence that seriously damages the feelings and the physical or mental health of the child, that parent in principle loses the right to require support from the child who was the victim. Such cases include a parent who kills a child, a father who rapes his daughter, and a parent who maltreats or abandons a child.

Support is a virtue, and a legal duty

As the old saying has it, one should treat one's own elders as elders and extend that treatment to the elders of others. Younger members of a family should respect, care for and look after the elderly. Supporting elderly parents has always been a traditional virtue in China, and today it is also a legal duty. A small minority of children are still unwilling to support their parents, and it is to be hoped that this case will serve as a warning to them: they should understand that the duty to support elderly parents has long been written into the law, and that neglect will not let them escape it. Those who behave in this heartless way can be taken through legal proceedings and made to answer to the law. For some people, indeed, compulsion in the name of the law is a more effective way of making them honour their parents than moral persuasion alone.