Divorce in International/Interracial Marriages in Shanghai

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People frequently write to Americans for Divorce Reform asking for information on whether international or interracial marriages are at greater risk for divorce. I believe that statistics on this are out there, but we do not have them, except for the article below. If anyone has such statistics, or links or references to them, please send them to divorcereform@usa.net.

"Divorce rates in Chinese/foreign marriages"
http://lateline.muzi.net/cgi/lateline/news?p=1940&l=english
[Lateline News (lateline.muzi.net): 8/23/97]

Shanghai - Mixed marriages between Shanghainese and foreigners rose 67 percent last year from 1991, but unions are also breaking up at a faster rate, a survey reveals. AFP reported
that more than 2,100 Shanghainese married foreigners last year, up 67 per cent
from 1991, accounting for 3.5 per cent of the total number of marriages in
1996, a survey by the city's Civil Affairs Bureau says.

Far more Chinese women than men marry foreigners, and more mixed couples were
setting up homes in Shanghai rather than moving overseas, the survey says. It
also found that divorces between Shanghainese and foreigners have more than
doubled since 1991.

The survey says some 168,000 people registered for marriage in Shanghai, the
mainland's largest cosmopolitan city, last year.

More than 24,600 couples divorced in Shanghai last year, a rise of 43.9 per
cent over 1991.

A sociologist said Shanghai was not unique in the country in witnessing a boom
in interracial marriages and accelerating divorce rates. Chinese marriages
were more stable before 1978, the year China opened up to the outside world
and initiated economic reforms, he said.

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