Divorce in China

The People’s Republic of China is one power governed state that lies in East Part of the Asian continent. China is known to have a population of over 1.3 billion people and therefore making it one of the most populated countries in the world. The Communist part of China is the governing party of the country, and it administers government to 22 states that make up the People’s Republic of China. China is a fast-growing economy mainly because of the population but also because of the economic reforms that the government pushed for in the year 1978. Despite being the largest country China like the other countries faces divorce problems just like any other state. Employment rates are high in China due to the population bursts, and therefore most of the people depend on salaries for a living.  The Chinese are hardworking people who love a peaceful life and are quite hospitable and easy to approach. However, Unemployment rates have fallen from 4.05% June 2016 to 4.04 by the end of 2016.  This is because some 10.67 million new jobs have been created in the country, Divorce in China is a strict process that not only gets you involved with the legal processes but also the employers, something that not everybody is ready to risk and end up losing a job. The divorce rate in China has increased really fast over the years. Since 2002, the rate rose from 0.9 to 2.8 divorces in 2015, per 1000 population. In 2012, about 2.87 million marriages in China ended in divorce.While in 2015, 3.84 million divorces, according to a report by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Currently, the divorce rate is about 6 %. This paper aims at reviewing the major causes and reasons for divorce in China and the laws put in place to govern the causes of divorce.

Divorce is the legal separation of couples who were previously married; this is usually through a legal agreement and revocation of the couple’s marriage certificate. Divorce also referred to as marriage dissolution is the marriage termination or cancelling of marital union or reorganization of responsibilities and duties of married couples legally according to the set rules and regulation of a country or state. Laws of divorce vary around the world considerably although divorce requires court sanction in most countries.  Divorce has some benefits as sometimes it may lead to reduced violence cases and a window for the partners to realize that they have been doing it all wrong. Under a divorce case, property and children are always the centers of focus, however, most of the times cases of divorce are known to affect children and their attachments for both of their parents. For this reason, divorce issue has been made legal for both parties.

Several types of divorce exist in the Peoples Republic of China. The types of divorce systems existent in China are classified according to the marriage situation, the duration the marriage has been in existent and the expected cooperation willingness by the parties undergoing the process of divorce. Collaborative divorce is where all the marriage partners hire different attorneys to negotiate on the terms of divorce and solve their separation conditions. A mediated divorce, on the other hand, is where both the spouses use one attorney for the settlement process of the divorce terms and also communication between the spouses in the divorce period.A no-fault divorce is a type of divorce where both the spouses agree that the reason for divorce is not attributed to problems by one of the partners but by both of them. The no-fault divorce at most cites a breakdown in the marriage with nothing that can be done to repair the said marriage. The most predominant divorce is the uncontested type of divorce where both of the spouses come to an agreement and can reach settlement agreements without the presence of court hearings or attorneys.

The cause of divorce in China has been known to be vast with major reasons being attributed to adultery and the eased process of divorce. The high divorce rate is mainly due to the following factors: Increased domestic disputes for instance, from 2013 to October 2015 there were about 4 Million disputes brought to the courts which reflect the high divorce rates. Moreover, easier and new procedures for divorce allowed married couples to divorce the same day. Other factors include China’s one child policy where most husbands and wives who are divorcing are probably the only child in their family born in the ‘80s or ‘90s and are therefore bound to be intolerant, impatient with an independent personality. There are also Changing of views from traditional conservationism, especially among the urban people. In the past, there was a lot of social pressure on divorcing couples, but now people have become more open-minded and can quickly move to another place, and this makes it difficult to sustain a marriage. Apart from the factors named above, more educated and financially independent females are also a factor leading to divorce. Chinese women have a higher education level hence better income and higher family status and are therefore less dependent on men psychologically and economically. According to Jia, a study done in Fujian province showed that 60% of the divorce cases there were due to women

Separation and divorce are not the best scenarios in any relationship. Although sometimes a divorce is the only option sometimes it just does not solve all the problems that were present before the divorce. Divorce in the Chinese society can be by agreement or by litigation. Divorce by agreement is where both parties agree to divorce on their own will and also agree on common problems. There are various reasons for divorce may vary from irreconcilable differences to inability or refusal by one spouse to meet their duties as laid out in the marriage contract. Divorce is usually either fault- based or no-fault based. The court may or may not require one party to cite fault in the other party.

Among the divorce, considerations are the child custody which the court has to get a deeper understanding of before giving the custody to either of the parents. Among the concerns include the comfortability of the child, which parent is the main caregiver, the different work schedules for the different parents and the ability of the divorced partners to co-operate with each other. The custody’s that the Chinese courts grant to divorced parents include legal custody, residential, joint or even sole custody where decisions are based on one of the parents. Property division in divorce cases, on the other hand, advocates that one keeps whatever they had before the marriage and split whatever they acquired during their tenure together. This assists in solving most of the property cases that are presented at divorce case settlements.

The change in the divorce laws reduced the communist influence of the divorce process for the spouses who are legally married in China. The present divorce process takes a month at maximum while the communist laws before the divorce changes could make the process go for even three months. The communist rules also required that the employers to the divorcing partners get to sign the divorce contract. This approach discouraged divorce in China, and as a result, most of the couples opted to stick with their partners for the lack of choice.

Divorce rates have increased in China especially after the new laws were passed. Legislation and court processes are not the perfect ways to solve separation problems and therefore the society needs to come in as salvage to the current situation. The divorce process involves; going into a government office and filling in an application, answering questions about children and property disputes, providing the marriage certificates and IDs, the whole process takes about10-20 minutes maximum. There are also new laws that require unfaithful partners especially men with mistresses to pay their spouses in compensation. One law allows a spouse to claim all family assets if her partner betrayed her. However, the basic social norms and life education skills on the Chinese couples may assist reduce the chances of divorce for most of the China marriages. Counseling sessions and therapies may also play a great role in getting couples to speak out and therefore reduce the chances abrupt divorce decisions.

In conclusion, Chinese having the highest population known has had issues with divorce. The divorce rates have increased due to the permissiveness of divorce which can be either through litigation or agreement.  However, there have been several known causes of divorce among them violence, women empowerment as well as new Chinese laws regarding divorce. Therefore therapies and counseling sessions can be embraced to reduce abrupt divorce from taking place. The best way to deal with issues of divorce in china is to educate the Chinese couples on importance of living together as well as embracing social norms. By so doing divorce rates will be reduced in china and couples will enjoy long life marriage.