7-Year Itch With Chinese Characteristics: Average Failed Beijing Marriage Lasts Just 5 Years

Popularized by a 1955 Marilyn Monroe movie, the "seven-year itch" is a colloquial way of describing the listlessness that threatens a marriage after newlywed bliss fades away. And as a recent report shows, the Chinese version of the seven-year itch is much the same as its Western counterpart – except it is two years shorter.

The Beijing Evening News conducted a study using 100 randomly-selected Beijing divorce cases to find that the average failed marriage in the city lasts just five years.

Based on the sample cases, 59 percent of Beijing divorces involve marriages that lasted between one and 10 years, of which marriages lasting under five years comprised 24 percent.

Curiously enough, the majority of Beijing divorce cases don't involve younger adults in their twenties, who only account for four of the 200 divorcees. Instead, most Beijing divorces involve an older generation with an average age between 30 and 40.

And, as it turns out, a stable marriage that endures into your golden years is not safe from a divorce in Beijing.

Thirteen percent of Beijing divorce cases involve marriages that had lasted over 30 years. As well, 14 Beijingers seeking divorce in the case study are over the age of 66, and even six who are over 80 years-old. According to the report, Beijing marriages tend to suffer when the only child of the family grows up and leaves home, taking away the key component for family unity. 

Another surprising takeaway from the study is that only 14 percent of Beijing divorce cases cited extra-marital affairs as a cause. Instead, a majority of locals at 55 percent blamed incompatible personalities for breaking up their marriages.

According to a 2015 Peking University survey of 80,000 people, infidelity is common in China with 20 percent of married male and female respondents admitting they are unfaithful.

And although older Beijingers were more prone to split up, different age demographics had their own reasons for divorcing.

Beijingers in their 40s and 50s were more likely to divorce over issues of child education and home finance, while younger Beijingers in their 20s and 30s are said to be more likely to divorce for personal reasons. According to the Beijing Evening News, younger Beijingers have no patience because they were brought up as the only child in a family and are used to being the center of attention. 

This sentiment is echoed by Shanghai lawyer Du Huanghai who said: "Many city couples in their 20s or 30s lack the patience to adapt to each other or make the necessary compromises, so their marriages are often in a fragile state."

The report also blamed social media for causing extra-marital affairs. Deputy of Expert Committee on Marriage and Family Research Chen Yiyun named Chinese social media apps like WeChat and Momo as the preferred tool for married men to pick up girls.

But even though Chinese couples have many reasons for divorcing, there's also one that benefits them financially. A recent popular practice has been for Chinese married couples to undergo a "technical divorces" in order to gain access to house-buying rights that are only available for single adults. 

Previously, Chinese citizens had to ask for permission from employers or community leaders in order to be granted a divorce. However, after a new regulation debuted in 2003 that did away with this unnecessary public embarrassment, China's divorce rate has continued to rise for the 13th year in a row. 

There were 3,841,000 divorces in China in 2015, resulting in a divorce rate of 2.8 per 1,000 marriages. 

Beijing leads the way as the Chinese city with the highest rate of divorce at 39 percent, and is followed by other first-tier cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Divorces are also high in Guangzhou, which also went through its own "seven-year itch with Chinese characteristics" in 2014 when 65 percent of divorce applications were for marriages under three years in length.

More stories from this author here.

Images: China Nurse, jaycc, LeTV, Fengdu, Baidu