"Concubine" Keepers to Pay Compensation When Divorced

A married person who keeps a "concubine", whether in name of husband and wife or not, will be forced to pay compensation when divorced according to the draft amendments to the marriage law.

The draft amendments were submitted to the on-going 19th meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People Congress (NPC) Friday, December 22.

This is the first time that Chinese law has stipulated compensation measures to be paid by divorced people involved in extra-marital cohabitation.

In the previous amendments to the marriage law, the compensation system was introduced to divorce cases. However, the compensation system only covered parties responsible for committing bigamy, domestic violence or for abandoning a wife.

Gu Angran, vice chairman of the NPC Law Committee, gave a presentation on the draft amendments to the plenary meeting of the NPC Standing Committee Friday, saying that symposiums on dealing with the heatedly-debated issues, such as bigamy, keeping a "concubine" and illegal marriage, have been held in Beijing and south China's Guangdong Province.

According to the comprehensively accepted proposal drawn from the symposiums, the cases of having a "concubine" are complicated, and measures of law, discipline and morality should be adopted to combat such practices.

The proposed draft amendments do not include the previous stipulation that a marriage that is not registered should be regarded as an illegal marriage, because the practice of holding wedding ceremonies without marriage registration is still present in rural areas of China, Gu said.

Gu also pointed out that the draft amendments emphasize the importance of protecting the legitimate rights of women, citing an example that adequate help should be given to the divorced party suffering from financial difficulties.

Due to differences in opinion between the public and lawmakers on issues relating to bigamy and domestic violence, lawmakers will organize plenary meeting debates instead of group discussions when dealing with the draft Marriage Law amendments.






People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/