Chinese Divorce

 

1. In a marriage, who would you attribute the following tasks to - the husband or the wife?

- cooking

- cleaning

- assembly of flat-pack furniture

- small household repairs (changing a bulb etc.)

- gardening

- small maintenance on car (checking fluid levels etc.)

2. If you had to attach a financial value to the above tasks, how would you do it? Which task would attract the greatest/least value?

3. How are most tasks attributed at the beginning of a relationship, do you imagine?

Read article here: Chinese Divorce

4. Do you feel positive about this legislation? Is the state overreaching here? Divorces are notoriously complicated affairs, will we also need accountants to calculate hours worked as well as lawyers?

5. Is this legislation biased towards women?

6. According to the article, "The amount should be negotiated, but if that fails then it will be decided by court." What could go wrong here?

7. Does this legislation open the door to other forms of potential compensation in a divorce (emotional, intellectual, social)? Will this only lead to more complicated prenuptial agreements? Will men see a financial interest in doing more housework?

8. Here are the marriage vows for a UK wedding:

"I, _____, take thee, _____, to be my wedded wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward,

 for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith."

Would these vows contravene the Chinese legislation, do you think? (Particularly the part about 'for richer, for poorer')

9. Do you have wedding vows in your country? What is promised/stated? Would it contravene China's civil code?

10. Does your country have a civil code which arbitrates on marriage? If not, should it have one?

11. Should getting a divorce be made easier? Should there be greater codification in the area of marriage/divorce? Do you think marriage would become more/less popular because of this?

12. Are the following reasons acceptable for getting a divorce?

money, infidelity, weight gain, lack of communication, unrealistic expectations, growing apart, substance abuse, getting married too young

13. Is marriage still an appropriate institution for women who want to be financially independent/have a career?

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Situation

You are an activist lawyer campaigning to have housework compensated for in divorce cases. You have an interview with well-known journalist (your teacher) who is interested in your cause. Make your case, and answer any questions he has.

..........

Discuss quotes

“Heartbreak is a loss. Divorce is a piece of paper.”

― Taylor Jenkins Reid

"I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again."

--- Joan Rivers

“Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day.”

― Simone de Beauvoir

"A man's home is his castle, and his wife is the janitor."

--- Lucille Kallen

“Has he come armed, then?” she asked anxiously. “Has he brought a pistol or a sword?”

Ian shook his head, his dark hair lifting wildly in the wind.

“Oh, no, Mam!” he said. “It’s worse. He’s brought a lawyer!”

― Diana Gabaldon, Voyager

Student Handout PDF: Chinese Divorce

Photo: Karolina Grabowska

Dancing Grannies

 1. What type of people and groups have you noticed using your local public park?

2. Which kinds of official or unofficial events and gatherings take place there?

3.How are people expected to behave there? Are there any rules or regulations about using the park or public space?

4. Is anti-social behaviour a problem in your local parks? How does it manifest itself? Is a particular group responsible for it? Can you think of any possible solutions to this behaviour? 

5. Have you ever been called a 'spoilsport'? Have you ever 'pulled the plug' on someone's party/celebration or activity?

Read article here: Dancing Grannies 

6. What surprised you the most - China having noisy, dancing 'grannies' early in the morning, or the hostility shown towards them?

7. Taking exercise early in the morning seems to be a relatively harmless way of improving people's health and improving social cohesion - isn't the disruption it causes relatively minimal? Don't the benefits outweigh the costs? Speaking as a citizen of a country where hardly anyone exercises, I might even welcome the arrival of dancing grannies - I could look forward to fewer people seeking healthcare and having groups of citizens who invest themselves into their communities - what say you?

8. Given the choice, who would you prefer to confront - a gang of skinheads, or a group of middle-aged ladies exercising to music?

9. What is the traditional idea of the attitude of young Chinese people towards older generations? Does this attitude exist in other societies too? How does the article show a different reality to what we might expect?

10. In what other situations might young people be annoyed by the behaviour of older people, and vice versa?

11. Is there an all-female social group of a similar type in your country? Do they have a particular behaviour that makes them stand out from the rest of society?

12. Would you ever consider buying the speaker-disabling device? When would you use it? Does it really bring 'social justice'?

13. "Everything is based on social maintenance: the larger number of people matters." Is this true of all societies? Do the authorities always favour the majority in areas where legislation is not clear?

14. If you were the mayor of a Chinese city, what solutions would you propose to mitigate the problem?

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Situation: choose A or B

A: You are a twenty-year-old shift worker who lives in an apartment overlooking a public park. You moved to the apartment as you wanted to live in a nice quiet area next to the park. Your work demands that you work irregular hours, and you often arrive home at six am and go straight to bed. Your sleep has often been interrupted recently by a group of senior citizens who hold an early-morning dance class. It is making you miserable. You feel that something should be done to prevent these kinds of noisy events. Speak to one of these senior citizens and make your feelings known. The park doesn’t belong to them.

B: You are in your 70s or 80s. You have joined a ballroom-dancing group that meets in the park three times a week. Being part of the group has not only made you fitter, it has enabled you to make friends and you no longer feel lonely. You don’t understand why young people can’t respect that.

..........

Discuss quotes

"Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but also a disruption of thought."

--- Arthur Schopenhauer

"We like no noise unless we make it ourselves."

--- Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sevigne

"Noise pollution is a relative thing. In a city, it's a jet plane taking off. In a monastery, it's a pen that scratches."

--- Robert Orben

"There was no respect for youth when I was young. And now that I am old, there is no respect for age - I missed it coming and going."

--- JB Priestly

"Nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbour's noisy party than being there."

--- Franklin P. Jones

“The one who lives with neighbours and relatives will learn to live with the gain of pains and the pain of gains”

― P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar

Student Handout PDF: Dancing Grannies

Photo: Max Chen