As the world evolves, new jobs emerge. “Mistress hunters” are now appearing in China. They are paid to approach mistresses to earn their trust and persuade them to end their affairs with married men. Some women in China do not want a divorce as they fear falling into financial hardship. Hence, they hire mistress hunters to get rid of the mistresses.
Being a mistress hunter is clearly not an easy job. Mistress hunters are usually women trained in psychology, sociology or law. They receive 3 years of training before being deployed.
One company that offers such service- Weiqing- has 59 offices in China and offers free legal advice. The founder of Weiqing claims that they “save some 5,000 couples” a year.
Mistress hunter Ming Li, was quoted as saying: “I’m older than these mistresses, in general, so they listen to me. If the mistress goes to a park, to the supermarket, or to work, I’ll happen to meet her. And even if she is a stay-at-home sort of person, I can claim I’ve got a leak in my apartment and ask for her help. We always find a way to initiate contact. One time, I pretended to be a fortune teller, and the mistress asked me to tell hers. Obviously, I already knew all about her from the wife, so it was easy to leave her dumbfounded and exhort her to leave the husband. It was one of our most quickly resolved cases.”
Some Statistics
Like in Singapore, Chinese divorce rates have increased rapidly- from 1.59 per 1,000 people in 2007 to 2.67 in 2014. In Beijing, 73,000 couples divorced in 2015, 3 times higher than the number 9 years ago.
A study conducted by Baihe.com shows that at least 1 party has been unfaithful in 50% of first marriages in China. More than 21% of husbands and 20% of wives is seeing someone outside the marriage.
See: Ludovic Ehret, License to split: China’s mistress hunters on a mission, AFP, 8 September 2016
As a divorce lawyer in Singapore, I doubt many marriages can be truly “saved” with the assistance of mistress hunters. While a particular mistress can be “gotten rid of”, there is no stopping a man from seeking a 2nd or 3rd mistress. Mistress hunters treat the issue on the surface, without tackling the root of the problem. There are likely to be inherent problems in the marriages which result in the emergence of mistresses. Marriage counselling may be able to help parties understand the problems in the marriage and assist them in reaching long-term solutions.
It was also mentioned in the article that some women are reluctant to divorce out of fear of financial hardship. If you are happily married, or about to get married, it is advisable that you enter into a pre-nuptial agreement/ marital agreement with your spouse. Such agreements help couples agree on ancillary issues such as division of matrimonial assets before things turn ugly. If you and your spouse intend to lead separate lives, you may wish to enter into a deed of separation, which function in the same vein as a pre-nuptial agreement/ marital agreement.
See: Section 112 of Women’s Charter (Singapore)
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2. Annulment (Nullity) of Marriage
5. Maintenance Issues (Alimony)
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