Discussion of the new 21 marriage draft laws established in China concerning societal problems.

On April 7th, 2024, Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Marriage and Family Section of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (draft for comments) was published by the Chinese Supreme Court towards the society. The revision of the law on marriage has attracted widespread attention. Similarly, in recent years, China has made intensive revisions to legal provisions, policies, and regulations relating to the conclusion, dissolution, and marriage registration. This is a series of revisions that have been the most frequent, altered, and socially influential since the promulgation of the Marriage Law. This can be seen as the Chinese authorities' response to the demographic problems caused by China's low marriage and childbearing rates since 2015. Many experts believe that today's legal provisions on marriage contain several elements that are inappropriate to current social realities, objectively hindering the increase in marriage and childbearing rates and even affecting social stability. Outlining the content of several laws, such as the financial assistance in divorce towards the economically inferior side, the most controversial is the compensation for marital labor, which to some extent echoes the ‘working mother, motherhood penalty’ that has attracted so much attention in recent years, with some feminist scholars commenting that this amendment to the law has made it possible for women's domestic labor to be recognized as having an economic value. However, it has triggered a huge outcry from the predominantly male population on internet media platforms, with some men calling for a joint protest, arguing that this clause tacitly assumes that the man has greater financial responsibility in the marriage - fishing for the woman. In addition to this, the abolition of the hukou requirement as a clause that is supposedly dedicated to safeguarding the freedom of marriage for individuals has stirred up a great deal of discontent amongst women the very existence of marriage is oppressive and exploitative to women in the radical feminist view. Many women believe that - by weakening the role of parents in protecting young women's marriages - there is a risk that some men will take advantage of the opportunity to cheat on their marriages. On microblogging and other platforms, some women have launched a collective campaign, agreeing to focus on going to the Ministry of Civil Affairs online platform to leave a message.