Deputy wants to end snappy divorces with new proposal
- Source: Global Times
- [08:22 March 11 2010]
- Comments
By Lin Meilian
Married people thinking of separating peacefully may want to get busy just in case a proposal by a deputy to the NPC gets implemented.
Citing the high divorce rate in China, Hei Xinwen said divorces are just too easy, the Chongqing Evening News reported Wednesday.
"The younger generation has high expectations for marriage, and find it hard to tolerate others," she said. "The simplified divorce procedures make it easy to get a divorce."
She told the paper that some overreact. "Having conflicts is like having a blemish on your arm, you don't have to cut off your arm to cure it," she said.
She proposed a new clause be added to the existing law to make divorce only possible after mediators try their luck to counsel couples.
Divorce is traditionally discouraged in China. In the old days, employers were required to give their approval to the couple.
But the rules were changed in 2003. Couples just need to file documents and pay 9 yuan ($1.3). The procedure takes less time to complete than it takes to do most bank transactions.
The divorce rate has been growing in recent years. The civil affairs departments said it handled 17 million divorce cases last year, an increase of 10 percent over 2008.
In Beijing alone, about 30,000 couples untied the knot in 2009, five times more than the 5,000 in 2001.
Gong Haiyan, director of one of the largest dating websites called Shijijiayuan, told the Global Times Wednesday that it is indeed crucial to toughen divorce procedures.
"With divorces easy to obtain, many spoiled couples born in the 1980s get divorced in the heat of the moment," she said. "In the end, many regret it soon after."
She said there should be a waiting period.
"I suggest the civil affairs departments delay their application for around a week and let the separating couple calm down and give it a second thought," she said.
Experts suggested couples try their luck with a marriage counselor or mediator.
Zuo Sanhong, a government-backed divorce mediator in Nanchang, East China's Jiangxi Province, told the Global Times that a mediator could sometimes make a difference.
"We help the separating couples get to know each other better and give up the idea of separating," she said.
