Couple divorces over Spring Festival dispute

A newlywed couple got a divorce because they couldn't settle a dispute about where to spend the Spring Festival, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

The report has been reposted thousands of times by many young Chinese netizens who share the same problem.

Commentators labeled the problem "a Chinese conundrum", saying it is partly due to China's family planning policy.

According to the paper, the husband is from Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, in Northwest China, while the wife is from Guangdong province in South China.

They married in June 2012 and settled in Changchun, Jilin province.

However, neither of them could compromise when it came to choose a location for the Chinese festival, with both wanting to go to their hometowns and visit their parents.

The Spring Festival is a traditional family reunion holiday.

The only solution they came up with was to get a divorce, after being married for only six months.

Commentators said that modern transportation means, such as planes and high-speed trains, should have helped release the tension a little by enabling young couples to spend a few days in each parent's home during the holiday.

But the difficulty of buying tickets for the holiday season, as well as the short vacation time added extra pressure, the paper said.