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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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