Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores China’s mental health law reform regarding treatment decision-making in the new era of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It provides essential context by explaining that because of the long period of wars and political movements, there were only a few trained mental health professionals in China and the governments of different regions had no desire or available resources to develop their community services. The book gives a comprehensive review of the Mental Health Law and applicable adult guardianship law in China. It also explores the implementation of the positive law reform with the empirical data and courts’ judgments. The book concludes that considerable discretion is afforded to psychiatrists who share the decision-making power with the service user’s family members.