Lesson 26

Does Divorce Represent Social Progress?

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Divorces-a New Social Phenomenon in China

Divorce used to be very rare in our country. In old times it was not necessary for a man to divorce his wife as he could easily marry another or many others. But women were expected to suffer in silence, and for those who could not, suicide

was the only way out. Despite the new marriage laws after Liberation, women still found the feudal conventions too strong for them to break away from. The film The Well drove home this point only too well.

It's only in the past decade, ever since our opening up to the outside world, that things are really beginning to change. The following story, dramatic as it sounds, is a true and far from unique story of our times.

Thirty-year old Xia Yafang used to work in a research institute in Shanghai. Like most young people of her age her ambition was to go abroad and somehow she managed to land herself in Japan. She started to work as a casual labourer in a tourist company in Tokyo. Because of her industry and exceptional ability, and also partly due to chance, she worked herself up to the position of assistant-manager. A brilliant career lay ahead of her and her future looked ever so bright.

When all seemed to be plain sailing Xiao Xia suddenly lost her peace of mind when she found the admiring eyes of the manager constantly fixed on her. The message the eyes sent out was too obvious to be mistaken. She read in them admiration, love and desire. She could not remain unmoved, but she was caught in a dilemma. She had a husband at home and also a little son. So when the manager formally proposed to her she naturally told him that the whole thing was impossible as she already had a happy little family. But nothing could put the manager off. So deep was his love for her. He pressed his suit and wanted her to divorce her husband and marry him instead. If she had been a single woman she would have accepted him without any hesitation. Now she did not know what to do.

The manager gave her a fortnight's leave to go home and talk things over with her husband. If he agreed to let his wife go, the manager would pay him a substantial sum as compensation, and also make arrangement for their son to be brought up and settle in Japan.

When she stepped down from her plane at the airport in Shanghai, she immediately spotted her husband with their child in his arm waiting in the crowd. When she saw him pushing his way through the crowd towards her, tears welled up in her eyes and she started to sob uncontrollably.

In the days that followed, she was overwhelmed by her husband's loving care and tenderness. She just could not bring herself to talk about a divorce. In the end she left Shanghai without mentioning a word about her manager and his offer.

But that was not the end of the affair. The manager just would not give her up. He decided to come to Shanghai in person and talk to her husband direct. For the first three days he behaved as if there was nothing between him and Xiao Xia. He let the couple take him around in Shanghai, having a nice time like any other tourist. In the process he managed to win the husband's friendship and trust. Then on the third night he invited the husband to his room in his hotel alone. There he put the whole thing to him openly and frankly, disguising nothing. The shock for the husband can well be imagined.

He went home to his wife in a dazed state of mind. He didn't mention a word to his wife about his conversation with her manager. There was no need to. She didn't say anything either. She just gave him time to sort things.out for himself.

When the initial shock was over, he started to do some clear thinking and cool calculation. His wife no longer loved him, at least not undividedly as before. Even if he should forcibly keep her, the shadow of the manager would always stand between them. She would have a much better future with the manager who could offer her much more than he could ever hope to offer. And their son, too, would have a much better future in that fabulously rich land.

Yes, he must admit it, he was thinking for himself too. The "compensation" the manager offered him was an astronomical figure. With it he could say good-bye to poverty for ever. He could even buy a luxury apartment, a car, and find a beautiful young wife... And so his feeling of loss, his wounded pride gave way to a new found equilibrium.

After the necessary procedure of a divorce and her arrangements and application for another marriage, he saw his former wife and her future husband to the airport. What went through his mind as he watched their retreating figures walking

towards the plane?

Xiao Xia's story was carried in Shanghaz Legal World. While refraining from moralizing himself, the writer asks the readers to draw their own

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