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Marriages break down amid rising wealth
(chinadaily.com.cn/nytimes)
Updated: 2005-10-04 11:08

With the increasing wealth comes the breakdown of the traditional family values in China, a country where people once embraced life-long marriages and boasted faithfulness.

Infidelity has emerged as a leading cause of divorce.


Cai Shaohong of Guangzhou, China, was divorced in June, despite her parents' disapproval, after, she said, her husband had been unfaithful. [The New York Times]

For women, and for men as well, changing social mores have brought changing expectations of marriage. If Chinese couples once recited ancient vows "to remain loyal to each other even if the seas run dry and the rocks crumble," these days a quarrel or bad sex is enough to end marriages.

In the developed suburban Guangzhou or Shenzhen regions, wealthy businessmen keep their lovers in "concubine villages." In big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, adultery runs rampant.

The New York Times has just interviewed Ms Cai Shaohong, 29, who, working in Guangzhou, said she could not put up with her husband and decided in June to leave him.

Five years of marriage dissolved after 30 minutes of paperwork. She celebrated at a teahouse with friends. By August, Ms. Cai was advising friends who had also decided to end their marriages with unfaithful spouses.

Divorce has become yet another barometer of how Western influences introduced by two decades of rapid economic changes have rippled through the Chinese society. China now has divorce lawyers, divorce counselors, prenuptial agreements and private detective agencies that photograph cheating spouses in the act.
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