New Marriage Database Will Make Cheating In China Challenging

  • Share
  • Read Later
FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP / Getty Images

A woman in China surfs the Web

Sure, you could trust your partner. But then again, why bother, when the Internet can let you know if you’re lover is faithful.

Anyone who has ever wondered if their new beau was actually already married will certainly appreciate this. Thanks to a new marriage record database in China, suspicious lovers can now go online and investigate for themselves.

(More on TIME.com: Reports Says Men Unfaithful to Women Who Earn More)

Beijing and Shanghai are some of the first places to put marriage records online this year, but state officials hope to have records for the entire country online by 2015.

The databases will certainly be convenient and could spare a lot of heartache, but are they necessary? Well, the Ministry of Civil Affairs–who announced the plan for online databases a few years ago–certainly seems to think so. The AP reports that China’s prosperity has led to “a culture of secret mistresses and second wives” and that divorce rates are on the rise.

Seeing as how we’ve seen technology make cheating easier in some cases, perhaps it’s a relief to know that the Internet can now throw a wrench into some of those illicit trysts. (via Associated Press)