Wife cheating is on the rise in southern China, and officials are being urged to do more after pleas from women who would like to see their husbands a bit more often, state media reported.
In the first nine months of this year, complaints over extra-marital affairs received by a women's federation in Guangzhou rose 44 percent from the year before to 401, the Yangcheng Evening News said.
"We can't let things drift when it comes to what people are doing in their time off from work," the paper quoted the federation as saying.
"People who have extra-marital affairs ... should lose their jobs and party memberships and be handed over to the courts."
That is not what is happening at the moment, since most women's complaints about unfaithful husbands go unheeded by the authorities.
Only 5 percent of women who went to the police with their problems received any assistance, according to a survey conducted by the federation.
Law enforcement is also made difficult because wife-cheaters in Guangzhou know bigamy can cost them up to two years in jail and try to cover their tracks, the paper said.
Only 16 percent who have rented apartments for their mistresses have done so under their own names, while 36 percent have borrowed a friend's ID for the transaction, the survey showed.
The "second wife" phenomenon has been growing over recent years, as social controls have eased while more people have become wealthy enough to hold mistresses.
Affection seems to play only a minor role in these liaisons, as more than 70 percent of "second wives" interviewed by the women's federation said they entered into the affairs to escape poverty.
According to the survey, the women are typically young and under-educated, and about two-thirds come from others parts of China than Guangzhou.
Although women have so far received little help in reining in their husbands, officials are taking steps to tighten the regulations.
Guangdong province, where Guangzhou is located, issued a circular in August calling for stricter discipline over cheating husbands.
In late October, lawmakers gathering in Beijing also discussed ways to curb bigamy and concubinage, spurred by reports that communist cadres are among the most eager to take on mistresses -- BEIJING (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
