China
Zhong Wu
Good news! The divorce rate is up, said Zhong Wu in the Hong Kong Standard. The conventional wisdom has always held that divorce is a tragedy, or at least an embarrassment. But we should see it as “a sign of progress” in personal freedom. Just a few years ago, unhappily married couples had to get the approval of both spouses’ work supervisors before they could split up. It was one more layer of bureaucracy and potential corruption, a needless interference in a private matter. Since the abolition of that requirement, divorce rates in many cities have doubled. Traditionalists shouldn’t worry. China’s family structure weathered two earlier divorce spikes. The first was during the 1950s, when the Communist Party abolished arranged marriages and more than a million leapt at the chance to shed a despised spouse. The second was during the Cultural Revolution, when officials who had been denounced as “capitalists” and “traitors” divorced to spare their wives or husbands from humiliation. This time, though, the increase in divorce is simply a result of Chinese people exercising a new personal liberty. We should celebrate it. “To choose your mate—or get rid of one—is a basic human right.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How is Chili's saving casual dining? Could others follow?Today's Big Question Value and TikTok virality bring in the diners
-
NASA is abandoning the climateThe Explainer Climate missions could be going dark
-
Every MCU movie since 'Avengers: Endgame,' rankedThe Week Recommends How did the recent 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' stack up?
