Behind China's rising divorce rate: impulse or relief?

Most people born in the 1980s and 1990s are only children whose parents tend to interfere too much in their lives, Liu said. What's more, unlike their parents, they attach more importance to individuality and the quality of life.

For the couples careering into divorce without careful forethought, marriage guidance offices have been set up next to registry offices in Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai and other provinces. Psychologists are available.

The registrars who handle dissolutions in Anhui province have been trained to tell whether a marriage can be saved or not, according to their statement and emotional state, according to Gao Jiamei of Anhui Provincial Civil Affairs Department.

A local government in the provincial capital Hefei has invited professional counselors to work alongside registrars. They help couples calm down and think over their relations, establishing a sense of responsibility leading to a rational choice.

"Most couples eager to get divorced choose to postpone their decision after consulting," said Wang Wenjing, secretary-general of Hefei marriage counselors' association.

But marriage is, after all, deeply personal. To divorce or not, the choice finally lies with the couple themselves.

Yang Jing, a native of Wuhu city in Anhui, has been married for five years and has a three-year-old son. She insisted on divorce because she did not have a say in her own family life -- her husband's parents lived with them and decided everything for them. She talked with her husband several times, to no avail.

"Others may see me as crazy for divorcing a husband who has made no big mistakes," she said. "But I don't want to make do with marriage like this for the rest of my life."