Chinese political adviser calls for easier divorce despite Beijing’s push for family values

A political adviser focusing on the rights of women and children has proposed again this year that China abolish its “divorce cooling-off period” to make the process easier, despite a national push for more people to marry and have families.

Jiang Shengnan, a writer and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, proposed during this year’s “two sessions” that the 30-day waiting period for finalising a divorce be removed from China’s Civil Code.

The clause was first written into law in 2021 in an effort to lower China’s soaring divorce rate. In this period, either party can withdraw their divorce application.

In 2020, before the law was finalised, Jiang suggested the clause be removed from the legal draft. She told the media on Sunday she received feedback from the public every year to abolish the clause.

“The parties involved in a divorce are citizens with full civil capacity and have the right to decide whether their marriage should continue. The law should not impose additional costs on all divorce parties based on the rare cases of impulsive divorces,” she told the Southern Weekend, a newspaper in Guangzhou.

Jiang said the period could create unnecessary disputes, including violence, and could be used to transfer assets or fabricate debts.

“Many unmarried young women have reached out to me, expressing this as a concern for them about whether to get married,” she said.

  

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