纽约时报：中国推出婚姻法新司法解释

发表日期：2011年8月30日

译者：iDo98

路透社北京讯 —— 在北京当厨师的贾林（音译，Jia Lin）二十年前离了婚，房子、儿子归了妻子，而他差不多落得个净身出户，一切得从头开始。 

二十年后的今天，年届51岁而略显驼背的他走进离婚登记处查阅自己的档案。他表示，倘若当初离婚时按照现在新出台的《婚姻法》司法解释的话，那他那套房子的归属权就很可能是他的了。 

中国最高人民法院本月发布了关于适用《中华人民共和国婚姻法》若干问题的最新解释，指出在婚前已购买房屋的夫妻一方有权在离婚后保留该房产所有权。而在此之前，离婚时房产权益通常由夫妻双方平均分割。

贾林说：“夫妻各方都应该得到各自婚前财产，我认为这样才公平。” 

但许多中国人，尤其是女性，对《婚姻法》的最新解释持不同意见。

她们表示，最高人民法院对《婚姻法》的最新解释有利于男方，因为按照中国传统观念通常是由男方在婚前购买房屋。持批评意见的人士还指出，现在法律对夫妻不忠一方的惩罚已几近于零。

现年40岁的北京居民徐薇勤（音译，Xu Weiqin）说：“现在男方不必对女方所遭受的离婚困境负责了。”她说，她的一个朋友在离婚期间被丈夫赶出家门，因为房子是她丈夫的。” 

在目前对房产权尤其重视的中国，以男性占主导地位的最高人民法院发布的这份《婚姻法》最新解释引发了公众热议。 

根据中国传统观念，人们普遍认为男方要想结婚就要拥有一套住房，以至于在没有自有住房的情况下结婚被称为“裸婚”。现在，有些准家长一知道胎儿是男孩便开始为他设立购房基金。 

最高人民法院新闻发言人孙军工在一份声明中表示：“为子女购房的男方父母或女方父母过去常常担心因子女离婚而导致家庭财产流失。” 

与诸如英美等普通法系国家的最高法院通过先例性案件的判决来指导下级法院不同，中国最高人民法院是通过发布新司法解释来设定规则。 

《婚姻法》新解释出台之后，许多女性争相要求丈夫在房产证上加上自己的名字，“房产证加名”已成为中国版推特（Twitter）——新浪微博网站上议论最多的“微话题”。

“我想确保我自己到头来不至于流落街头，”一位女性在新浪微博上如是写道。 

有些男性对此也有担忧，但出于不同的原因。 

“我老婆要我把她的名字加到房产证上，我该怎么办呢？”一位男性在新浪微博上问道。 

“我想补充一点：我老婆认为钱非常重要，而且过去曾两次因财产问题而威胁要离婚。” 

离婚增加 

离婚在中国曾经非常罕见，但现在已司空见惯，每天约有5,000对夫妻决定结束婚姻。虽然中国离婚率仍远低于英美国家，但据中国民政部的统计数据显示，过去八年中国离婚数量正以每年7.6％的速度攀升。

尽管当今中国离婚现象颇为普遍，但社会对此话题仍然有些过分拘谨。 

比如，严格按照法律措辞来说，北京市民政局并没有“离婚登记处”。快乐幸福的一对对准夫妻手拉着手排在“结婚登记处”的门外，而面无笑容的一对对离婚夫妻则悄悄溜进大厅另一边挂着类似牌子的“婚姻登记处”。 

在最近的一个星期日上午，现年45岁的商人金（音译，Jin）先生身穿正装衬衫，手拎公文包，在去上班的路上特地来到婚姻登记处，打听有关离婚的程序。

他说：“现在掘金女比比皆是，我能理解最高法院为什麽会重新对《婚姻法》进行如此解释，经常听到有人只是为了钱财而结婚。”

他停顿了一下，然后接着说：“但这似乎确实对女方有些不公平，不是吗？”

（路透社北京分社报道，编辑：克里斯·巴克利及伊莱恩·莱斯）

附英文原版：

BEIJING (Reuters) - After Jia Lin divorced twenty years ago, his wife got both house and son, leaving the Beijing cook with little more than a fresh start.

Stepping into the divorce registration office two decades later to retrieve his records, the stooped 51-year-old said the fate of his house could be very different now.

China’s top court issued a reinterpretation of the country’s divorce law this month, saying that the spouse who buys a house before marriage has the right to keep it after a split-up. Before, the property was usually divided equally between the two sides.

"Each side should get back what was his or hers beforehand," Jia said. "I think that’s fair."

But many Chinese, especially women, disagree.

They say the new interpretation favors men, who traditionally buy the house in China, often before they marry. Critics also say the penalty for infidelity is now close to nil.

"Now the man doesn’t have to be responsible for what happens to the woman," said Beijing resident Xu Weiqin, 40, who said her friend is being kicked out of her husband’s house in the midst of a divorce.

The new interpretation by the male-dominated Supreme People’s Court has stirred debate in a country where home ownership is particularly valued.

Chinese men are widely expected to own a house if they want to marry, so much so that a wedding sans house is called a "naked wedding." Some parents now start a home-purchase fund for their child as soon as they know it is a boy.

"Parents who buy their children houses used to worry that their children’s divorces could result in the loss of family property," said court spokesman Sun Jungong in a statement.

Unlike the top courts of common law countries, such as the United States and United Kingdom, which guide lower courts through decisions via precedent-setting cases, China’s top court sets law by issuing new interpretations.

In the days following the reinterpretation, women have scrambled to add their names to their husbands’ housing contracts, with the process for inking it becoming a most-discussed item on the Chinese Twitter-like website Weibo.

"I want to make sure I don’t end up in the street," wrote one female Weibo user.

Some men were worried, too, but for a different reason.

"My wife wants me to add her name to the housing certificate. What do I do?" asked one Chinese man on Weibo.

"I should add that my wife feels money is very important, and has threatened to divorce me twice in the past over money."

INCREASING DIVORCES

Once rare in China, divorce is now common, with about 5,000 couples deciding to call it quits each day. Although China’s divorce rate remains well below that of the U.S. and UK, the number of Chinese divorces has increased at an annual rate of 7.6 percent over the past eight years, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Despite the prevalence of divorce in China today, there’s still some squeamishness about the topic.

For example, there’s technically no "divorce registration office" at the Beijing civil affairs bureau. Happy couples queue hand-in-hand outside the "wedding registration office," while unhappy ones slink into the similarly named "marriage registration office" down the hall.

On a recent weekday morning, Mr. Jin, a 45-year-old businessman on his way to work in a dress shirt and carrying a briefcase, was at the marriage registration office to inquire about divorce proceedings.

"With the number of gold diggers these days, I can see why they have this reinterpretation," said Jin, who declined to give his first name. "You hear all the time about people who just get married for money."

He paused. "But it does seem a bit unfair to women, doesn’t it?"