[divorce] good career move in china

In China, anything can be faked, including divorce.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the divorce rate more than doubled from 1985 to 1995, and by 2005, the rate had more than tripled, to 1.37 divorces per 1,000 people. In 2005, 1.79 million couples divorced, while 8.23 million couples ignored the rising divorce rate and tied the knot.

And the explanation for the rash of divorce?

Consider the case of one of the couples, Liu Fangzhai and Ma Xiuyun. Just 25 days after they were certified for divorce, they registered for marriage again. It happened that the county government wanted to demolish part of the village and requisition the land for a development project. The evicted villagers would be compensated.

But the compensation would be granted on the basis of households and, as a married couple, Liu and Ma would be compensated as a single household … Local officials were fully aware of the ruse but they could do nothing about it.

In the eastern Shanghai suburb of Pudong, more than a dozen couples were suddenly divorced last July. The area where they lived was targeted for redevelopment and they hoped to be compensated with bigger floor spaces as separated households.

It doesn't stop there.

There is a social-security program in Beijing to help the unemployed, disabled and others in need. The welfare is granted in such a way that it does not increase proportionally in accordance with the number of people in a household.

And yet another reason.

With the reform of state-owned enterprises in recent years, the number of laid-off workers has been so large, some local authorities launched new rules that they would only help one partner of a laid-off couple to find new employment.

Of course, this is just surmise. There are no official stats.