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Calling Off Forever
China's divorce rates spike for a multitude of reasons
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UPDATED: July 27, 2015 NO. 19, MAY 8, 2014
A Weaker Union
True love, freedom of choice and even wealth drive recent surge in divorce rate
By Li Li
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In order to curb speculation, a capital gains tax of 20 percent on profits made from selling residential property was introduced nationwide, with the only exclusion being a family's only property under certain conditions.

Therefore, many couples with two properties divorce and put each house under each person's name to avoid the tax when selling the property. After the sale goes through, they often remarry.

According to statistics from Beijing's Bureau of Civil Affairs, 39,075 couples in the city got divorced during the first three quarters of 2013, representing a staggering growth of 41 percent year on year.

However, Li Yinhe, a renowned sociologist and sexologist, said that the impact of "technical divorces" is temporary and regional, so they can be ignored when predicting the long-term trend of China's divorce rate. "I expect to see an upward curve in China's divorce rate in the future, which will drop back to a relatively high level after reaching a peak," she said.

Marital norms

Yu Hai, a professor of sociology at Fudan University in Shanghai, said that while higher divorce rates shed light on larger freedom and privacy enjoyed by individuals, the ensuing instability for families, the basic components of society, as well as deformation of popular perceptions about marriage and relationships, are alarming.

"Instead of feeling ashamed about cheating on their wives, some rich people boast about keeping mistresses as a symbol of their success. This shows moral degradation and the breakdown of organizational and cultural restraints on marriage," Yu said.

Tan Kejian, Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology at the Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences, said that various social problems, including marriage issues, tend to emerge in societies where annual per-capita income approaches and reaches $3,000, a stage China has recently passed through.

"When it comes to China, increased migration within the country, a lack of communication between spouses due to the accelerated tempo of life and the low costs of divorce are all factors pushing up the number of couples choosing to separate," Tan said. He doesn't worry about moral degradation caused by the apparent "marriage crisis" in China, however, as he believes that love plays an increasingly important role in the success or failure of marriage compared with the past.

Tan's notion seems to be supported by a survey conducted by magazine Insight China in 2012. According to the survey on marriage and family that involved people from 287 cities across China, among the 70 percent of respondents who were married, 59.4 percent felt "pretty happy," while another 17.7 percent felt "very happy." The study also found that almost 80 percent of people in a marriage would choose the same spouse if given a second chance.

Singling out major factors affecting marriage, 61.5 percent of the respondents chose "affection between the husband and wife," much higher than the 37.2 percent who chose "family income."

The poll showed that Chinese people generally stay in satisfying marriages and tend to give up a marriage when it causes them distress or unhappiness.

According to Wu, the marriage counselor in Hangzhou, instances of flash marriages and divorces have been increasing among young couples in recent years.

"Many young people are only children in their families, who have stronger personalities and are more self-centered compared to their parents' generation. They are quicker to lose their tempers," Wu said. He added that some of them are used to being taken care of by their parents and lack the independence.

Wu personally counseled a couple, in their 20s, both from one-child families, who filed for divorce after getting married for only four days in January. The trigger was a single quarrel over what kind of fruit to eat after dinner.

"I tried to tell couples rushing into a divorce that marriage requires perseverance and it is common to have difficult times in a marriage when they need to work on it to make it work," Wu said.

Wu's colleague, Wu Xuanlan, said that the toughest couples to counsel for are those whose parents are deeply involved in their conflicts.

"Older people tend to hold strong opinions about family life and can be stubborn and resist looking at things from the angle of the other party in the marriage. Some parents even forced their children to abandon a marriage," Wu Xuanlan said.

Comments to zanjifang@bjreview.com

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