How Chinese divorcees are paying big bucks to get their wedding photos shredded

Pre-wedding and wedding photography are now standard practices in our society.

It’s fancy to spend thousands of dollars, wear multiple attire, and move venues to display marital bliss in photos at the reception.

However, China is disproving this concept.

Professionally shredding wedding photos and other mementoes of unhappy nuptials is a booming industry.

All because of the neighbouring country’s rising divorce and declining marriage rates.

Marriage rates decline, divorce rates rise

Marriage rates in China are falling, according to official statistics, with annual declines from over 13 million in 2013 to less than seven million in 2022.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics data indicates that this is the lowest since records started in 1985.

Authorities are concerned about the trend, despite a minor increase in the numbers last year — up to eight million.

Furthermore, the data shows that the number of divorces has increased dramatically.

They have reached a record high of 4.7 million in 2019 — more than four times greater than two decades earlier.

The government has tried to stop divorces by introducing a new law in 2021 that mandates a 30-day “cooling off” period before divorce.

While there was a brief dip, divorce numbers rose subsequently, rising by 25 per cent in 2023 compared to the previous year.

These two cultural shifts have caused a growing demographic problem, which is worsened by a slowing economy, an ageing population and falling birth rate.

A booming business

China has long put a high value on stable, harmonious families.

The rising divorce rate, however, indicates that a growing number of young people are now rejecting this stigma and opting out of marriage.

Because of this cultural trend, divorce photography is a thriving industry today.

Pictures of couples signing divorce documents and posing with their divorce certificates have been uploaded on the Chinese social networking platform, Xiaohongshu.

One user shared a picture of her marriage and divorce certificates, writing, “29 years old. Happy divorce.”

In fact, businesses now provide services to ceremoniously dispose of an ex-spouse’s old wedding photos and other unpleasant souvenirs.

Outside China’s capital, Beijing, lies a factory where Liu Wei and his team members assist divorcing couples in destroying traces of their union.

Old wedding pictures’ faces are spray-painted to protect people’s privacy before being thrown into a crusher with other mementoes of the past.

The entire process is documented for people who are eager to move on and find closure.

Liu calls himself a “love story morgue operator.”

“We are a crematorium of those photos when their life cycle ends,” he told The Washington Post, employing another death-related metaphor.

This service of disposing of items is offered for Rs 669 ($8) to Rs 2,339 ($28).

Liu claimed there is a great demand for his services as he has already ruined almost 2,500 couples’ wedding photos since his firm debuted in 2021.

Although it is difficult to estimate the market’s size and potential for expansion, Gary Ng, an economist with the French investment firm, Natixis, tells CNN that the rising divorce rates in China imply “there is bound to be more economic activities surrounding it.”

Photographer Tan is already planning how she wants to expand her company, which now captures moments of divorce. She now plans to lure former clients if they reconcile.

“I’ll give them an 18 per cent discount if the two people remarry and ask me to take photos,” she tells CNN.

Behind the scenes

The younger generation values personal freedom and career advancement, according to Peng Xiujian, senior research fellow at Australia’s Victoria University, who studies demographic trends in China.

“The idea of staying in an unhappy marriage ‘for the sake of appearances’ or out of obligation is losing its grip,” she said.

Peng also linked the drop in weddings to social and economic issues, such as the high cost of living, a competitive employment market, and excessive work pressure.

For those choosing divorce, it’s no longer seen as shameful, Tan says. “Both parties still have feelings… and want to commemorate the relationship.”

“A divorce might not necessarily be a bad thing. It could be a good thing. So there’s no need to feel sad about it,” Liu told CNN.

With inputs from agencies