Peaceful dissolution
Whatever the reasons behind divorces, the divorce rate in China has been growing over the past decade.
Li Hongxiang, a professor of law at Jilin University in northeast China's Jilin Province, said that today's people no longer believe marriage is a lifetime commitment and a weakened idea of marriage has led to more divorces. He also pointed out the current marriage registration regulation that went into force in 2003 has made it easier to get a civil divorce.
"Society now has become more tolerant toward divorce," said a doctor surnamed Ma at the Beijing National Olympic Psychological Hospital, who declined to give her full name. "Divorce is no longer considered shameful as was the case decades ago."
The decision to marry and divorce is influenced by the growing emphasis on what is beneficial to the individual in a society that has traditionally been taught to prioritize public interests.
Some Internet users believe that couples should be able to divorce whenever they want because the freedom to divorce is a sacred right endowed to Chinese citizens by the law and that marriage registration offices should increase the efficiency of relevant legal procedures.
However, others believe that time can allow couples to calm down and think about making such a drastic move.
In March, the local court of Beijing's Mentougou District decided to assign its juvenile delinquency division to handle all cases of divorce involving couples with underage children.
The move comes as the court recognizes that the legal proceedings of divorce can cause serious mental anxiety for underage children. Having failed to receive appropriate care and instruction from parents, a high proportion of juvenile offenders come from broken families, revealed division head Yang Chang.
Efforts have been made by the division to explore a pre-divorce education program for couples. For example, a video clip titled Divorce? Made Up Your Mind? is now screened for divorce seekers prior to a court trial. Multiple handbooks showing examples of inappropriate behavior and remarks made by divorce-seeking parents that might harm their children are also available.
Ma Xia and her husband Wu Honggang (pseudonyms) refrained from blaming each other or engaging in violent fights after watching the video and reading the books. Ma, previously determined to divorce due to her husband's affair and to fight for custody of her 5-year-old son, finally decided to leave her son under the custody of his father for the sake of the child's better education.
In the same way, the Mentougou court has concluded 48 divorce cases in 2015, with 85 percent of them being settled through mediation or out-of-court negotiations, 19 percentage points higher than the average level in Beijing in the same period.
On June 30, the Mentougou court signed an agreement on cooperation with the district's women's federation, labor union and other institutions in alleviating and removing the adverse impacts of divorce on minors. The agreement states that education and counseling must be given to couples once or twice during the divorce trial, lasting at least one hour each time.
In addition, psychological counseling about family and marriage has yet to become a public service stipulated by the law.
"Divorce is by no means a happy ending for a family; sometimes a second thought changes the whole situation," Yang said. "We hope divorce seekers would spend more time and energy on maintaining and developing a healthy marriage than breaking up on the spur of the moment."
