Coronavirus: how being forced together is tearing couples apart
- From mahjong to face masks, small things can balloon into big arguments in the pandemic pressure cooker, Chinese psychologist says
- Lawyer says he has fielded more divorce inquiries since the coronavirus erupted in China late last year
Huang, based in the eastern city of Hangzhou, has clients in China and overseas, and her services have been in greater demand as the pressures of the disease and enforced isolation strain families and marriages to breaking point.
She said the pandemic was putting a “magnifying glass” on relationships, bringing cracks into sharper focus, with families in many cities forced to stay at home together for months on end.
“More people are under stress under the circumstances. Their anxiety or depression is easily magnified and can hurt their relationship with their partners,” Huang said, adding that more clients were consulting her about frustrations with their marriages.
So far, those frustrations have yet to be reflected in statistics. Official numbers show that both marriage and divorce applications fell in the first quarter, as government office hours were cut back and severe restrictions placed on movement.
In Beijing, authorities recorded 9,100 divorces in the first three months of the year, down 46 per cent from the same time in 2019, and about 16,000 marriages, a 48 per cent year-on-year drop, according to quarterly data issued by the Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau on Tuesday.