In order to better take care of their son, the couple decided to buy an apartment near the school he is scheduled to attend. But the city government only allows them to have two apartments at most.
"I have no alternative but to divorce and more might be forced to walk this way," said Zhang, who lives in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province.
"After we get divorced, my wife will claim our apartments so that I can buy a new apartment as a first-home buyer, since I don't have a house under my name. We will remarry after that," Li said, adding that he got the idea from a local newspaper.
The number of people coming to register for divorce has increased dramatically over the past month, said an employee of the Civil Affairs Bureau of Wuhan's Wuchang District who declined to be named.
A Wednesday report carried by the China Youth Daily said that 1,255 couples registered to divorce from March 4 to 8 in north China's Tianjin municipality, marking a 470-percent increase compared with the number that registered in the previous week.
"The 'fake' divorces and marriages reveal design defects and loopholes in the country's property control policies," said Xia Xueluan, a professor from the sociology department of Peking University.
Professor Qiao Xinsheng at the Wuhan-based Zhongnan University of Economics and Law said every family should be prudent before making such a decision, adding that he believes flexible modern attitudes regarding marriage have contributed to the phenomenon.
"The policies should be the main area of focus, as opposed to people's attitudes toward marriage," Qiao said.
Economists have called for building a sound property market in accordance with the principles of a market economy.
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