Fake marriages, fake divorces for speculative purposes prevalent in China

Jun 21, 2017, 09:00 am

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By Hong Soon-do, Beijing correspondent, AsiaToday

Fake marriages and divorces for the purpose of buying a home are becoming widespread in China. If things go on like this, getting married and divorced more than twice could become a must for ordinary couples in China.

In order to understand this absurd social phenomenon, we should first take a look at the country's skyrocketing housing market. According to the June 20th reports of Chinese media outlets, including Chinese influential economic newspaper Jingji Cankao Bao (a.k.a. Economic Information Daily), there are quite a lot of requirements to buy property in Beijing and other big cities in China. Most of all, you need to have a local family registration. Besides, it's tough to borrow money if you have bad credit ratings. In addition, married couples can purchase property first. This means that singles or those without a local family registration cannot invest in real estate even if they have a lot of money to invest.

Chinese people who visited the civil administration office to get legally married. In Beijing, the number of marriages and divorces has increased rapidly over the past years./ Source: Jingji Cankao Bao (a.k.a. Economic Information Daily)

 
In this condition, people with money will actively get involved in fake marriages to prove they have a family registration and that they are married. Obviously, they get divorced immediately after accomplishing their purpose by getting married. Suo Weiqiang, a real estate agent in Beijing, said, "Fake marriages and fake divorces can be a personal disadvantage. But if you successfully buy hot real estate by doing this, you will earn 10 times the salary of an ordinary worker. Who would refuse this great chance?"


Statistics show how actively the Chinese people are engaged in fake marriages and divorces. The number of marriages and divorces in most of the big cities in 2016 and the first half of 2017 increased by almost 30% on average compared with 2015.The data clearly shows that many Chinese in large cities were willing to get married and divorced spuriously to borrow more and buy more homes.


Currently, sham marriage and divorce trends are keeping the related markets flourish. From years ago, new brokers for consumers have popped up everywhere and they are thriving all across the country. Of course, the Chinese authorities are aware of this ridiculous situation. They are trying to respond actively by preparing various kinds of regulations. Property speculation is definitely a serious concern for China.



#fake marriage #fake divorce #Chinese couples #property market #real estate 
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