A Chinese law that requires couples to wait one month before their divorce requests can be processed is facing strong opposition from the public for keeping people in unhappy marriages. 

The law, which took effect in January, requires couples filing for separation to wait a 30-day “cooling-off period” before they are allowed to proceed. The government hopes the measure could lower divorce rates, but it has prompted widespread criticism, especially from women’s rights advocates.

The policy has kept at least hundreds of couples from getting separated since it was enacted.

The eastern city of Hangzhou, for example, said among the 2186 couples who filed for divorce in January, 16 withdrew their requests within the cooling-off period, while 816 couples never came back to finalize their divorce, according to local newspaper Dushi Kuaibao. The applications expire 30 days after the end of the mandatory waiting period. 

The policy has proven effective by keeping 38 percent of the divorce applicants married, the report said, citing Hangzhou’s Civil Affairs Bureau. 

Following the path of many developed countries, China’s divorce rates have been on the rise thanks to easing stigma around failed marriages as well as women’s growing financial power and their unwillingness to stay in unhappy marriages. 

The rising divorce rates, however, has alarmed the Chinese leadership, which places a great emphasis on traditional family values and social stability. 

While officials hail the canceled divorce requests as a success, the numbers have triggered online backlash over the state’s interference in people’s freedom to divorce. 

Although divorce lawsuits are exempted from the waiting period, many women say the policy has made it more difficult for victims of abuse to leave toxic relationships, given the lax law enforcement on domestic violence in China. 

“Where did the people go after failing to divorce?” a person commented on microblogging site Weibo. “Are there more divorce suits these days? For those who cannot afford lawsuits, are they suffering further from domestic violence?” 

“How about just canceling divorce services? We will become the happiest country in the world,” another user commented. 

The Chinese government says the waiting period could reduce “irrational divorces” and contribute to the stability of families. In Hangzhou, officials offer free counseling services during the cooling-off period to prevent eventual break-ups. 

One counselor surnamed Qian told Dushi Kuaibao that she persuaded a woman into dropping her divorce request during the 30-day waiting period.  

The woman complained about her husband’s failure in caring for her, while her husband said he was working hard to support the family, Qian recalled. The counselor said she helped the two improve their communication.  

“They have 30 days to adjust their way of living together and lower their chances of getting divorced irrationally,” the counselor said, “so they won’t regret in the future.” 

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The entrepreneur Li Bo felt like striking gold when the idea hit him: Why not open a sex doll brothel in a factory town, where men are in abundance and entertainment options are not?

He built it. People came. 

Li opened what he called the China’s “first sex doll experience studio” near a Foxconn electronics factory in the southern city of Shenzhen, where customers could pay as little as $15 to use a range of sex dolls for an hour. 

But with success came scrutiny. Li’s enterprise was shut down by police last week, after it inspired copycats across the country who see a lucrative business opportunity in renting out sex dolls.

The first store, named Aiaile, literally “love, love, joy,” opened in 2018. In December last year, he set up a second branch in another migrant worker neighborhood surrounded by industrial parks. The stores attracted thousands of customers, all men, according to the business’s website.

It’s unclear exactly why the stores were closed. Regulators in Shenzhen have previously said the business did not violate the law.

“It happened suddenly, and customers all ran away,” Li, the founder, told Chinese news outlet Zhengguan on Wednesday. 

“Playing with dolls is at least better than playing with humans,” Li, who worked at a factory before becoming an entrepreneur, was quoted as saying. He declined to talk to VICE World News, citing concerns about speaking to foreign media.

Li’s sex doll brothels charged between 98 to 368 Chinese yuan ($15 to $57) per hour, and offered a selection of sex dolls in rooms decorated as classrooms, prison cells, and hospital wards, according to its WeChat page. Customers could also get free condoms, lubricants, slippers, and towels.

The business has made national headlines, and at least dozens of similar establishments have sprung up across China since 2018. Some stores even offer virtual reality headsets for customers to watch porn as they use the dolls, according to a December report by state media, which called for tighter regulations on the sex doll boom.

The global emergence of an industry built on sex dolls catered almost exclusively to men remains a controversial one. In China, while some internet users have praised the brothels for giving low-income workers a cheap alternative to other sex services, others have criticized the business as objectifying women and fueling a rape culture.

“[The brothels] are good for the humankind and can reduce crimes,” said one of the most liked comments on microblogging site Weibo. 

“The customers don’t find it dirty?” another person said. “Why not just use your hands or buy a masturbation cup.”

Internet users also questioned if these brothels will spread disease, although many of the stores promise to disinfect the sex dolls thoroughly between each use.

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The pandemic is killing movie theaters in much of the world, but it hasn’t stopped Hollywood stars from acting in TV and streaming shows and, for that matter, getting paid handsomely for it. 

But Chinese social media was shocked this week to learn that a top actor in China made as much as $25 million in 2019 for one show alone, an amount comparable to what top-earning Hollywood actors made in a year. Meryl Streep and Gal Gadot, for example, earned $24 million and $31 million in 2020 respectively, according to Forbes.

In a series of texts disclosed by her estranged partner in a video, the actor Zheng Shuang was said to be paid 160 million yuan ($25 million) for working 77 days on a costume drama, or about $320,000 per day, according to the video posted on microblogging site Weibo on Monday.

Authorities in Shanghai and Beijing have launched investigations into allegations that Zheng received excessive pay and evaded taxes, state media reported on Wednesday. In a Weibo post on Thursday, Zheng said she was willing to cooperate with all investigations.

It’s no secret in China that top performers command astronomical wages, but the exact rates are rarely publicized as inequality grows in the country.

The high income of actors became particularly taboo in 2018 after the Chinese government cracked down on what it considered to be excessive pay and rampant tax evasion in the entertainment industry. Authorities capped actors’ pay at 40 percent of total production costs and required lead actors to be paid no more than 70 percent of total cast pay.

The most high-profile target of the clampdown, Fan Bingbing, was ordered to pay about $129 million in overdue taxes and fines. She has since stopped appearing in TV shows or films.

The alleged pay earned by Zheng, 29, came as a shock to many Chinese social media users and prompted outrage against what people believe to be an increasingly unequal society.

Wealth was widely worshipped as a result of hard work and entrepreneurial spirit in the first few decades of China’s economic reforms since the 1970s, but in recent years, the public has become more critical of the growing number of mega-rich people as the young generation complain of declining social mobility.

Many internet users have compared Zheng’s alleged earnings with the salary level of ordinary workers. In 2020, China’s per capita disposable income was 32,189 yuan ($5,000).

“If I started working from the Qin Dynasty [221-206 BC], working hard in a job that paid 6,000 yuan a month and not spending on anything,” a Weibo user said, “I would be able to have 160 million yuan by now.”

“I feel so suffocated and hopeless reading about this saga,” another person said. “What’s the point for ordinary people to work so hard?”

The messages were exposed by Zheng’s ex-partner, television producer Zhang Heng, in a video showing his WeChat messaging history with Zheng and her parents. The ex-couple has been embroiled in criticisms since Zhang accused Zheng of abandoning two surrogate babies born in the United States in January. The two are currently in a legal dispute over the children’s custody in the U.S.

Zheng has yet to respond to the accusations. 

Zheng’s ex-partner also shared pictures of what he claimed to be “yin-and-yang contracts” signed between Zheng’s family and the drama’s production company. One contract covered a $7.4 million compensation for the actor, while the other was written as a $17.3 million investment agreement, the man said. Such contracts are known to be used by entertainment stars to under-report their income and evade taxes.

Zheng has not made public appearances in China since the surrogacy controversy. Prada dropped her as an ambassador, and other brands that worked with her also distanced themselves with her. The costume drama at the center of the salary controversy, called A Chinese Ghost Story, has yet to be released.

The scandals could upend Zheng’s entertainment career for good. Actors and singers in China could be banned from mainstream media if their speeches or behaviors are deemed against the Communist Party’s official ideologies. 

In a Tuesday Weibo post responding to the controversy, Hu Xijin, the editor of party-run tabloid Global Times, said high earnings by celebrities were a global phenomenon, but it should not be tolerated in a “socialist country” like China. 

“Market economy is a good thing, but it also has a barbaric nature,” Hu said. “The Chinese public has in their hearts a scale for fairness and justice. Celebrities and other wealthy people should better respect this scale like how they respect the law.” 

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This article has been updated with Zheng Shuang’s response to the investigations.

Fans of a popular idol show in China bought millions of dollars’ worth of milk products in a monthslong frenzy, but that wasn’t because they were thirsty.

What they were after were the QR codes that come with the packaging of flavored milk and yogurt, which they scanned in order to vote for their favorite contestants in the talent show. The program was sponsored—you guessed it—by a dairy company.

Much of the millions of bottles and boxes of milk products were resold and donated. But in extreme cases, they were reportedly poured down the drain. The excesses have prompted criticism by Chinese state media as the government has campaigned to ban food waste.

A slew of idol shows modeled after programs in South Korea have taken China by the storm. In these reality shows, contestants spend months living together and competing for spots in a boy or girl group that will debut under a major entertainment company.

While earlier idol competitions asked the audience to vote through text messages, several recent shows, sponsored by dairy brands, ask fans to vote by buying milk products. Fans support their favorite contestants by scanning the QR codes that come with certain types of flavored milk or yogurt. 

The intense competition among participants and their fans has turned milk-voting into a million-dollar industry. Fan clubs will typically raise money to bulk-buy milk, and distribute the QR codes printed on the packaging to fans to vote en masse, as each account is allowed limited numbers of votes every day. 

During last year’s Tencent idol show Chuang 2020, for example, the top contestants received votes that were worth at least 48 million yuan ($7.4 million) of yogurt, Chinese outlet Southern Weekly reported.

It’s hard to trace where the milk goes after votes are cast. On social media, some fans say they drink the milk themselves—sometimes getting sick from over-consumption—or give them away to friends. Media reports suggest the milk that comes from bulk-buying has been resold at low prices. Some fan groups say they have donated the drinks to charities. 

But in an unverified video that went viral last month, several people are seen sitting in front of a wall of boxes that contained the yogurt used to vote for contestants in popular idol show Youth With You 3. They were opening the bottles and pouring the drink into a drainage.

The alleged milk dumping has prompted criticism from the government. In a Tuesday commentary, state-run news agency Xinhua slammed the idol programs for encouraging the young generation to waste food. 

“This is seeking profits and attention through waste and squander, a lack of respect for labor, and a contempt and breach of the law,” the article said, citing an anti-food waste campaign endorsed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. “The consequence is to mislead youths and erode their pursuit and values.” 

Hours after the commentary was published, the government of Beijing said it had ordered iQIYI, a Nasdaq-listed streaming site, to suspend filming the finale of Youth With You 3, which has Blackpink’s Lisa as one of the judges. The company was told to look into its problems and make corrections. 

Authorities did not explain why they shelved the show. It could have something to do with another controversy that erupted over the weekend when a top-rated contestant, Tony Yu Jingtian, was said to have both Chinese and Canadian citizenships. The Chinese government does not recognize dual nationality. Rumors also stated Yu’s family was involved in drugs and sex businesses. 

Yu denied having done things that “have a negative impact on society.” But he quit the contest following the government order, citing health reasons. 

Entertainment stars in China are required to strictly toe the Communist Party’s ideology. Films and TV shows are sometimes pulled after people report celebrities’ misconduct to authorities. Producers have also resorted to blurring the brand labels or the faces of stars that are deemed problematic. 

Youth With You 3 pledged to comply with government regulations on its official Weibo page. It’s unclear when the finale will resume and whether or not the milk votes will still be counted. Fans have questioned if all the efforts they spend on milk-voting will go to waste. 

Wiki Su, a 26-year-old viewer of Youth With You 3 in Hong Kong, said she had been casting votes for her favorite participant every day for the past month. She sends money to a fan group and receives photos of the QR codes on milk packaging, but she is not aware where exactly the milk goes. 

She said wasting milk was wrong, but she also understood the program needed sponsors to continue running. 

“This design has made idol contests a money battle,” Su said. “As a fan I don’t want to get involved in boosting traffic data or milk-voting at all. But this is the only way to make sure the contestant I like has a chance of getting noticed in an increasingly competitive industry.” 

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