Confession time – before I came to China, my knowledge of this country had been on the same level as that of my math and science – limited and measly. And very prejudiced. My only excuse is that unless you come to live here, you are just one of the ‘outsiders’ who have no idea about the ‘life's daily blessings’ in the land of rice and noodles. By this I mean taking weekly cheap massage sessions for granted or almost royal treatment for owners of the ‘lucky’ set : white skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. Instead, I had been one of those people whose first association upon hearing ‘China’, is ‘fake’.My life in Shanghai and travels around the PRC ‘educated’ me and shed a completely new light on its picture in my mind. However, the ‘fake element’ did not evaporate. It turns out that Chinese people raised their mastery of counterfeit products to a whole new level, as since 2013, after fake Armani bags or fake Converse sneakers, the next ‘big thing’ has been…FAKE DIVORCE known as 假离婚. 假 means jiǎ – fake and 离婚 – líhūn – divorce.
Why? First, brief ‘contemporary history’ note. In March 2013, in order to control housing prices, the State Council announced that those who owned more than one apartment would have to pay 20% tax on the capital gains when they sold the second house (when previously it was just 1 to 2 %). And if that wasn't enough, banks in Shanghai were banned from granting loans for buying a third home, and in Beijing an individual could purchase ONLY 1 home. BUT! Necessity is the mother of invention. Especially in China. Resourceful citizens, anxious to allocate loads of Mao ye-ye-s in real estate, had been thinking so intensively, that they discovered how to act ‘outside the box’ – or rather ‘outside the marriage’. The loophole in this vicious law allowed the couple to avoid higher tax if they split up, so after divorce (which btw costs just a FEW YUAN!) each ex-spouse could own one house. And that’s not all – following líhūn, one individual can freely and ‘generously’ transfer home ownership to the ex-spouse AND even purchase a new house as a first time buyer ( which frequently comes with incentives). Next steps – sell one property, and then just romantically – remarry. Simple as that. According to Reuters, in early March of 2013 in just one of Shanghai’s districts 53 couples filed for divorce. And last year, a grand total of 53, 244 couples ‘happily’ divorced in Shanghai. It’s no longer weddings or birthday parties in China, but the jiǎ líhūn days that became the most joyful events attracting the attendance of the entire family.
Shocking? Well, whenever I tell one of my friends in Poland about the ‘highlights’ of life in China, she tells me ‘Wow, look – those Chinese people - so creative! We have a great deal to learn from them.’ She is right. Last summer I was looking for a pair of nude color ballerina shoes at the fake market ( the only place where I have a BIG choice for my size 39).In one store I came across a pair that immediately appealed to me, but unfortunately size 38. And at first I was informed they didn’t come in bigger size. Seeing my huge disappointment, the shop assistant said ‘Wait, I will check again’. And disappeared with the shoes I tried on. After 5 minutes he came back and gave me a ’new’ pair saying ‘I found it! It is 39!’ Partly happy, but partly suspicious at the sudden turn of events, I tried the shoe on. But somehow it still felt like 38. I checked the sole of the shoe to see the size on it. There was a sticker there in black on white – 39. Some little hunch ‘told’ me, though, to peel it. Turned out, the resourceful gentleman didn’t have my size, so he just ‘created’ it within seconds and thought it would work as placebo for my desire to have that particular shoe and I would feel it really fit. Instead of getting angry, that man made my day and I just couldn’t stop laughing all the way back home.
One of the most advanced pieces of knowledge about China I learned that makes up for my embarrassing ignorance from few years before, is that it never fails to prove one thing – whether it is a fake shoe size or a fake divorce in the face of government restrictions – where there is a will and/or money, in China, there IS a way!
