For years, the Chinese Communist Party has taken a hands-off approach to Marriage and divorce, but a recent steep drop in China’s birth rate has led a government that once tried to stop births to transform itself into a pro-birth government. But 2021 won’t be so easy for Chinese couples who want to get divorced.
On Jan. 1, the Communist Party introduced a new civil code that mandates a 30-day cooling-off period for those seeking divorce.
The rule quickly became a hot topic on the Internet, with 600 million comments on Sina Weibo “against the divorce cooling-off period. Some critics objected to the state’s sudden interest in the nation’s married couples’ troubles. Others are concerned about the dangers the cooling-off period poses to women trapped in abusive relationships.
In February, couples seeking divorce found it difficult to book divorce appointments online. In parts of Shanghai and Shenzhen, schedules were full for weeks. In Guangzhou, appointment slots were so scarce that appointments had to be made with scalpers.
Recently, a divorce case in Fangshan District, Beijing, even rushed to the top of the news, with a full-Time wife receiving $50,000 in domestic compensation for her divorce, the first divorce case to invoke the civil code that took effect in January.
In 2015, Mr. Chen and Ms. Wang registered their marriage and had a son. in 2018, the two sides began to have conflicts and started to separate in July of that year. Since November 2018, the child has been with Ms. Wang.
Mr. Chen filed a court action for divorce in 2019, which was later withdrawn. in 2020, he filed the lawsuit again and the court rejected his request for divorce. in October 2020, Mr. Chen filed another divorce action in the Fangshan court.
Ms. Wang argued that during her five years of married Life, she took care of the children and took care of the household chores, while Chen did not care about or participate in any household chores other than going to work. According to a court statement dated Feb. 4, Ms. Wang has filed a claim for additional compensation for household chores and child care.
For the first time, a divorcing couple is entitled to claim compensation if he or she has taken on more responsibility in the household, according to the new Civil Code, which came into effect this year.
According to the court’s first instance ruling, Mr. Chen and Ms. Wang divorced; the children were raised by Ms. Wang, with Mr. Chen paying 2,000 yuan per month in support and visitation rights; and the joint property was divided equally between the parties. For the compensation requested by Ms. Wang, the court ruled that Mr. Chen should pay Ms. Wang 50,000 yuan for household chores.
The landmark divorce case has sparked attention in China and widespread discussion about the value of women’s unpaid domestic work. As of Wednesday (24), the trending topic “Full-time wife gets 50,000 yuan for housework” had received more than 570 million views on Weibo.
Some people think 50,000 yuan is too little, not enough money to hire a nanny; others question that since the husband and wife divide the work, housework is considered a kind of division of labor, and one half of the property in divorce, why talk about compensation?
Others believe that this is actually an emergency measure taken by the Chinese Communist government against the backdrop of a rapidly aging population and a rapidly declining birth rate. Spooked by the trend of demographic crisis, the CCP government has taken a new interest in traditional Family values.
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