People & Culture / Trending in China
‘Can’t be a burden any longer’: Chinese parents file divorce on behalf of paralysed son to ‘free’ his devoted wife after 15 years of caring for him
- An elderly couple in China went to court to dissolve the marriage of their son, who is in a vegetative state, to ease the burden on his wife
- The couple are legal guardians of their son, and say they no longer want their son’s disease to be a burden on their daughter-in-law
Alice Yan in Shanghai
Published: 6:00pm, 23 Mar, 2023
An elderly couple in northeastern China are taking legal action to end the marriage between their daughter-in-law and their son, who has been in a vegetative state for the past 15 years, saying they do not want him to be a burden to her any longer.
Earlier this month, a court in Jilin province heard the lawsuit filed by the couple who are the legal custodians of their son, surnamed Liu, Jiupai News reported.
Liu married his wife, surnamed Zhang, in 2002, and they had a daughter the following year.
In 2008, Liu fell into a vegetative state caused by a disease not mentioned in the report.
To earn an income to support the family, Zhang moved to a nearby city as a migrant worker while her bedridden husband has been mainly cared for by his parents in their hometown, said the report.
Liu’s parents said their son’s health has deteriorated in recent years and they wanted to dissolve the marriage between their son and Zhang because they could not bear to let her continue to be bound by their son’s disease.
“Our daughter-in-law, please go. You are still young while our granddaughter is already an adult. We can’t be a burden for you any longer,” the couple told her.
After background checks on the situation of Liu’s family, the court granted the divorce application. In the divorce agreement, Zhang agreed she would take care of her former in-laws when they cannot care for themselves in the future.
The family’s story has touched mainland Chinese internet users and has been viewed 4 million times on Douyin and 2 million times on Weibo.
“Hats off to all parents-in-law like them. How many people can stay with their vegetative partners for more than 10 years? This woman is kind-hearted and so are the parents-in-law. I wish the husband could recover, and I wish the wife good luck,” commented one person.
“This man is fortunate to have such a kind wife,” a second person said.
But another commenter had a different view: “It’s a bit late after 15 years. Why didn’t they let her go some years earlier? I think the parents-in-law are selfish.”
Touching stories of spouses caring for their sick partners often trend on mainland social media.
In southern China’s Hunan province, a man has won awards from local authorities for caring for his seriously disabled wife for more than three decades. His wife was injured when she confronted a knife-wielding robber in the 1980s.
A woman in southwestern China won praise from the public for looking after her husband for nearly 40 years after he was paralysed from the waist down in an accident. She supported the family alone by taking on laborious part-time jobs.
https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/tr...obox=1679570395
