Ballooning breakups
Divorce has traditionally been taboo for women, but in recent decades it has become more common. According to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in June last year, a total of 3.6 million Chinese couples broke up in 2014, a year-on-year increase of 3.9 percent. One out of every four new marriages will end in divorce.
An article published by The Economist in January attributed the soaring divorce rate to China's massive economic and social change. "In the past 35 years, the biggest internal migration experienced by any country in human history has been tearing families apart," said the article.
It also says women are becoming better educated and more aware of their marital rights. "Greater affluence has made it easier for many people to contemplate living alone - no longer is there such an incentive to stay married in order to pool resources."
According to surveys conducted every five years since 2000 by the Institute of Sexuality and Gender, Renmin University of China, the rate of extramarital affairs has been growing in the past 15 years. Pan Suiming, the sexologist who lead the surveys, released Saturday the results of the 2015 survey on his blog. The adultery rate has tripled since 2000, which means one in every three husbands and one in every 7.5 wives are having extramarital affairs.
The demand for investigators like Afeng and Weng Yu will likely increase. But they have been controversial. China's first private detective organization was founded in 1992, but the Ministry of Public Security issued a ban prohibiting any form of investigation conduct by private organizations or individuals in 1993.
The service didn't vanish but went underground or reemerged as consulting firms.
Hu Rui, a lawyer from Beijing Haoqin law firm, told the Beijing Times that what investigators like Afeng are doing is an invasion of privacy, and the evidence they have obtained could be rejected by courts.
According to Weng, the evidence works as a bargaining chip for the woman to seek a private settlement.
To avoid more trouble or out of fear that the film could be made public, the husband will always meet his wife's demands, according to the Beijing Times.
