Marriage is the foundation of a Chinese family. As the Chinese saying goes: a harmonious family prospers everything (家和万事兴). It used to be the norm that once people marry, they should never divorce – they should try everything possible to maintain the marriage and make the family “harmonious.” However, as the Chinese society evolves rapidly in recent decades, the divorce rate in China has increased about 10-fold from 1979-2019. To cope with that, China passed a law in 2020 to mandate a 30-day “cooling off” period before formalizing a divorce. The divorce rate dropped drastically after the law went into effect, but it sparked anger especially among women and deterred young people from getting married. What has been causing the rising demand to untie the knot in China? Do marriage and family still hold the foundational value for Chinese nowadays? How would the change of the law affect men and women differently? Join us in the conversation with two experts in this field and tell us what you think at China Institute.