While the economy is expanding at about 5 per cent a year, Chinese households have been saving more because of concerns about job security and the impact of a prolonged property crisis.
Much of the economic growth has relied on export competitiveness, but Chinese firms, hit by US tariffs, have cut jobs or lowered pay to reduce costs, while millions of fresh university graduates are struggling to find work.
The rising financial pressure was thrust into the spotlight last year after a driver rammed his car into a crowd killing 35 people in what was the country’s deadliest attack in recent history.
The court found that at the time of his offence, the driver was angry with his divorce settlement. He was sentenced to death.
Soon after, the bi-monthly Communist Party magazine Qiushi re-published a 2016 speech by President Xi Jinping that argued “harmonious families lead to a stable society”.
FINANCIAL STRAIN
In a further sign that the rebound in divorces is driven by financial strain, demographers point at data showing lower divorce rates in affluent coastal areas and higher ones in poorer inner and northern regions.
Zhou Minghui booked her divorce appointment herself on the fifth attempt, after weeks of worry that her ex-husband might change his mind about their separation.
Zhou said her motivation for divorce was what she described as her ex’s “reckless financial investments”. He had lost nearly 4 million yuan in the stock market in the space of three years, forcing the couple to sell their home, she said.
Even then they were only able to repay just over half of the debt he had taken to buy the shares.
“When the economy is in a downturn, people shouldn’t be so eager to invest or consume,” said 38-year-old Zhou, who works in the education industry in the southern city of Shenzhen.
The COVID-era drop in divorce appears increasingly like an anomaly.
Demographers say it was the result not only of the shutdown of non-essential public services, but also by the 2021 introduction of a 30-day mandatory cool-off period for couples seeking amicable divorce outside the courts.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-divorce-agent-falling-marriage-rates-5186096
