NANJING: In a fast-changing era featuring uncertainty, insurance seems to be
welcome in every field, including love.
Among the lovebirds rushing to get married in this golden year, many are also
eager to buy "love insurance" for their marriage, reported a local TV station in
Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province.
Named with fancy Chinese idioms, including "Qing Xi Jin Sheng" and "Yi Sheng
Yi Shi," which all mean everlasting love between a couple, these types of
insurance have drawn the attention of both experts and the public, leading them
to ask whether money can ensure love's sparkle never dies.
However, according to Sun Zhaohua, a sales manager with the Nanjing branch of
the Taiping Life Insurance Company, love insurance actually has nothing to do
with love.
The love insurance policies offered by several insurance giants are actually
packages consisting of life, health, and endowment insurances.
"They are often recommended to a couple, treated as one buyer, or bought by
people for their spouse. That is a symbol of mutual affection. So they are
described as 'love' insurance," said Sun.
"But there is no implication that the insurance can bind two people together.
If the marriage fails, the couple can share the insurance income or change the
beneficiary of the insurance contract. They suffer almost no economic loss
except for a small charge to change their contracts," Sun added.
According to Wang, sales of love insurance are not going badly.
"The sweet titles of the insurance policies sound very romantic and signal
good wishes for our marriage," said many of Sun's customers.
For many others, the reason is perhaps more practical and economical.
"When the marriage exists, we invest for each other. When it is over, we can
withdraw our investment or share the profit. The end of marriage doesn't mean
the end of profit and insurance," said Wu Di, a 27-year-old newly wed woman.
"Also, when both of us buy a love insurance package as a whole, we pay a
smaller insurance fee than would be needed if we bought insurance for each other
separately," Wu added.
Wu Jian, Wu Di's husband, found the economic benefit of the love insurance
the most attractive aspect.
"Compared with saving money in a bank, the returns here are apparently higher
than deposit. What's more, we can enjoy overall insurance against the
emergencies of life," said Wu Jian.
Compared with buoyant sales of love insurance today, the country's first love
insurance policy - "Tian Chang Di Jiu" issued by the Nanjing branch of Taiping
in 1996 - was reported to be a total failure, as it lasted only for two years
before being eliminated by the company due to the dismal market response.
"It was strictly bound together with the existence of marriage, which was
perhaps the reason for its unpopularity," said Wang Bin, an employee of Xinhua
Life Insurance, another insurance giant in the country.
Tian Chang Di Jiu, like many love insurance policies adopted in developed
countries, designated that only when a couple's marriage lasted beyond 20 years
could they enjoy the returns promised by the policy they bought at the beginning
of the marriage. The longer the marriage lasted, the more money they would make.
"The failure of the policy was quite easy to understand as the country was
witnessing a rising rate of divorce. People were becoming pragmatic and had less
confidence in their ability to sustain a long marriage of several decades," said
Wang.
According to Wang, the title "love marriage" was a little bit sarcastic.
"With the earlier love insurance, a high divorce rate was the key factor in
ensuring profits for the company. But this goes against the title of the
insurance which claimed to bless people's love and marriage," said Wang.
Currently, several large-scale insurance companies, including both the
foreign funded Allianz Dazhong Life Insurance Company and several home-based
companies, are issuing insurance in the name of love.
