“I always say that Chinese marriage counselling is mostly like treating late-stage cancer, ” said Zhu, explaining that the majority of his clients arrive in “absolute crisis”. After decades of the “one-child policy”, China faces a stark gender imbalance with 30 million more men than women. State-organised counsellingLawmakers last year introduced a mandatory 30-day cooling-off period for divorce by agreement, which previously could be settled within a day. “The ‘divorce cooling-off period’ has become a ‘divorce abuse period’, which completely deviates from its original purpose, ” said Guangzhou marriage lawyer Wang Youbai. But more Chinese women are also refusing to cave in, with marriage registrations last year falling to their lowest level in nearly two decades.
