China’s annual Two Sessions political meetings recently drew to a close, minus the presence of National People’s Congress (NPC) Chairman Zhao Leji, the nation’s third most senior official. (Zhao’s unexpected absence was reportedly due to a respiratory tract infection.) Despite the rubber-stamp nature of the sessions, whose proceedings are always highly choreographed, they can also offer an opportunity for delegates to promote and draw attention to their own pet causes. This year, delegates submitted 269 proposals and 8,000 suggestions on topics as varied as promoting and regulating AI, increasing the birthrate, reforming the educational system to reduce burdens on students and teachers, combatting age-based hiring discrimination, improving public health, and more. Some of the proposals sparked lively online debate. One particularly controversial proposal, from Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee member and Peking University econometrics professor Chen Songxi, was to lower the legal marriage age for both men and women to 18 years old in order to “unleash reproductive potential” and tackle China’s falling birthrate.
A much more popular proposal—to abolish the widely despised 30-day “cooling-off period” for those wishing to divorce—was raised for the fifth straight year by writer and CPPCC National Committee member Jiang Shengnan. Although her idea attracted many supportive comments and articles online, microblogging platform Weibo blocked the hashtag #Jiang Shengnan Proposes Abolishing Divorce “Cooling-off” Period (#蒋胜男建议删除离婚冷静期条款#) soon after it appeared on Weibo’s “hot search” list. Ever since the “cooling-off period” was added to China’s Civil Code in 2020—it went into effect on January 1, 2021—the measure has been criticized by legal experts and laypeople alike for being unnecessary and overly paternalistic, for increasing litigious divorces that overburden the judicial system, for dragging out divorces by allowing either party to unilaterally halt proceedings during the period, and for providing more opportunities for spouses to spar over child custody or manipulate the division of property by fabricating debts or transferring assets. Most chilling of all is the danger it poses to victims of domestic abuse: there have been numerous reports of women killed by their estranged spouses during the mandated waiting period.
Left: The cover of a marriage certificate. Right: The cover of a divorce certificate. (source: WeChat account 法学圈 “Legal Circles”)
A recent WeChat article from legal-affairs blog “Legal Circles” discusses the pitfalls of the divorce cooling-off period, the rising levels of public support for its abolition, and the likelihood that “someday people will look back on it as a terrible joke, a dark blot on China’s legal history”:
On May 28, 2020, when the Civil Code was voted into law [by the 13th NPC Standing Committee] by a margin of 99.8%, the divorce “cooling-off” period [stipulated in Article 1077 of the Civil Code] was touted as a “warm-hearted plan to safeguard family stability.” A mere five years later, however, the measure is at the eye of a public opinion storm: divorces by mutual consent have fallen by 14.16%, while contested divorces involving litigation have surged by 101%; there are frequent news reports about victims of domestic violence essentially being “trapped in a cage” with their abusers during the cooling-off period; and one local court has a backlog of contested-divorce paperwork that fills three warehouses. How did this institutional experiment, which began with such good intentions, go from being a legislative “bright spot” to a universally reviled abomination?
[…] The case records of a lower-court judge reveal a crueler truth: during the cooling-off period, the number of husbands transferring property [to avoid it being included in the divorce settlement] increased by 57%, and malicious “child snatching” incidents in custody battles increased by 34%. Data from a Beijing law firm show that since the cooling-off period went into effect, the remarriage rate has increased only slightly (by 0.2%), but the demand for prenuptial agreements has soared by 300%. “This isn’t saving marriages, but it’s clearly fueling a ‘divorce arms race,’” said a lawyer who has handled 218 divorce cases.
[…] In July 2023, a shelter for victims of domestic violence in one county received an urgent plea for help: on the 27th day of their divorce cooling-off period, a Mrs. Li had been attacked by her estranged husband with a knife and forced to withdraw her petition for divorce. When she fled her abuser and arrived at the shelter, Mrs. Li carried with her not only a doctor’s certificate describing her wounds, but also the notice of her divorce cooling-off period. “The system has devolved into a kind of ‘countdown timer’ for abusers.” Such cases are by no means isolated incidents: statistics from domestic-violence prevention organizations show that since the cooling-off period was introduced, the average length of time that victims of domestic violence are forced to live with their abusers has increased by 22 days, and the rate of resulting injuries has increased by 41%.
[…] But there are signs of a dawning public awakening. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ “2024 Public Opinion Survey on the Institution of Marriage” shows that 68.7% of respondents believe that the cooling-off period “makes divorce more painful,” and 82.4% support giving special exemptions to victims of domestic violence. In an online poll, more than 3.7 million people agreed with the following statement: “The ones who most need a ‘cooling-down period’ to calm down are the lawmakers.” Even scholars who initially supported the legislation have begun to rethink their stance: “Applying a rose-tinted view of a bygone farming era to force reforms to marriage in this internet age is an approach that is doomed to failure.” [Chinese]
CDT Chinese editors have compiled some comments, translated below, from Weibo users overwhelmingly supportive of Jiang’s proposal to abolish the divorce cooling-off period once and for all:
日出深山_10237: Whoever initially suggested the cooling-off period deserves the worst kind of death. I can’t even imagine what kind of logical justifications were made for writing it into law.
爆漿魷魚: Too many people have been irreparably harmed by the divorce cooling-off period.
Fun_YXG: I absolutely support [abolishing it]. Haven’t there already been enough murders during the cooling-off period?
无花果8424: There was so much public opposition to it at the time, but they still enacted it. No sweat, I just won’t get married.
lyastark: The original purpose wasn’t to cut down on rash divorces, but to reduce the divorce rate.
康乃馨的妈妈: On any given day during that 30-day cooling-off period, a lot of women die.
你说我像乌龟电车到处乱飞: I remember this NPC delegate raising the same proposal a few times over the years.
火龙蛰起: Since the cooling-off period took effect, the number of divorces by consent has fallen, but the number of divorces by litigation has skyrocketed, causing no end of hassle.
死于此树下: Everyone thinks it’s totally odious. Both men and women hate it. I wonder what brain-dead idiot came up with it.
做一只肌肉蛙蛙: Without the freedom to divorce, marriage is a trap!
屁事没有本事多: A cooling-off period for divorce violates the principle of freedom of marital choice.
读书无用开卷有益: If a couple regrets divorcing, they can always get remarried, but there’s no bringing back a woman who has been killed.
行者老孙的地盘: Why is it that so many aspects of our daily lives are restricted by overly simplistic methods of governance that force the vast majority of people to pay the price for problems that only apply to a tiny fraction of the population?!
Maryeatinganapple: The divorce cooling-off period has proven to be hugely successful—successful in scaring off even more single people from getting married or having kids.
陆士庭: It needs to be abolished. The divorce cooling-off period hasn’t resulted in a decrease in the divorce rate, but it has brought about three negative consequences:
1. Distrust of marriage has risen among vulnerable groups, which exacerbates the rising divorce rate.
2. Divorces by mutual consent now frequently escalate to contested divorces, which increases the burden on the courts.
3. Violent “crimes of passion” are more likely to occur during the divorce cooling-off period, which undermines social stability.遇见吴杰臻: [NPC] delegate Jiang Shengnan has proposed abolishing the divorce cooling-off period. I strongly agree with one of her arguments—that it punishes the vast majority of people just because a very small minority of people may decide to divorce rashly. Besides, even if a couple does divorce rashly, there’s still a chance to salvage the relationship, because they can always apply for a new marriage certificate free of charge. So there’s no need to solve the “problem” by imposing a divorce cooling-off period.
指尖上的冬眠: In addition, if a couple who decide to divorce both change their minds during the cooling-off period, they can always withdraw their petition for divorce. But we can’t ignore the wishes of the partner who wants the divorce just because the other partner doesn’t agree. [Chinese]