Splitting images: young China couples take break-up photos, throw parties to celebrate end of married life as divorce rates continue to rise
- Growing numbers ‘break shame of divorce’ with positive approach
- Greater social acceptance as break-up trend grows
Five months after a woman in China posted photos of her divorce celebration on social media, the topic has gone viral, highlighting a new attitude towards splitting up.
The woman, surnamed Song, celebrated the end of her four-year marriage with a big party in southeastern China’s Guangdong province in June.
She and her friends hung red banners that announced: “This s*** marriage ends here” and “Warm congratulations on our diva becoming single again”.
They performed celebratory rituals such as stepping over a fire basin, taking a pomelo leaf shower for “cleansing”, and singing a song called Break Up Happily.
The 34-year-old also invited a photographer friend to take pictures of the divorce process, including the moment she collected the certificate of separation with her ex-husband.
In a post on China’s lifestyle social media platform Xiaohongshu which has so far attracted 230,000 likes Song wrote: “I would have divorced long ago if I had known it would make me feel so happy.”