Young Chinese couples struggle with seperation issues

Making good while they are young and able is driving young married couples in China apart - at least during the week. Liu Zhihua looks at why these 'weekend' unions are fraught with dangers.

Members of China's famous rural migrant labor force take on menial jobs in the big cities because they can earn more than what they make at home. If it means they are separated from their children and family for long stretches of time on end, it is a cost they are willing to pay for a better financial future. At a totally different level up the economic pyramid, there are urban folks who are in the same plight, and basically for the same reasons. They are China's up and coming, the ambitious young executive climbing up the corporate ladder, the young entrepreneur devoting time to her new business, the double-income-no-kids couple saving for a bigger house, car and family.

They are married, but living apart because their work takes them away from each other.

Chao Jie (not her real name), 30, is a case in point. The Shanghai resident lives in paradise every weekend when she meets up with her husband in the suburbs, but says she goes back to a living hell during the weekdays when she has to stay in town for work.

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