A tale of two marriages
on Kirsten VSO (China), 17/Sep/2010 12:25, 34 days ago
Thought I'd share with you a couple of stories from the China Daily which I enjoyed recently.Husband tries to end life after wife refuses to wash clothesPolice in Xinyun, Jiangxi province, rescued a man who attempted to drown himself after his wife refused to wash his clothes. Mr Li headed to a nearby river to end his life after a quarrel with his wife over his dirty laundry. Mr Li's son then phoned the police who pulled the suicidal man back to shore.Li later told the police that the decision to end his life did not just ride on the fact that his wife refused to wash his clothes. "I'm upset that I married the wrong woman," he wept. "We haven't spoken nicely to each other for years."Secrets of an 8o year marriageThis week, Zhang Mucheng and his wife, Xu, are celebrating their 80th wedding anniversary. Living in a century old house in Shanghai, the couple have seen it all - war, famine and hardship.Zhang and Xu got married in 1930. They came to the marriage as complete strangers, as was common then. "We knew that we would have many years to get to know one another," Zhang laughs.Xu spent her childhood living away from her parents after a fortune teller said her horoscope was not compatible with her father. Zhang started work helping in his fatehr's drugstore at the age of 14.Zhang has lost some of his hearing but Xu always repeats what's on tv for him. Xu has lost some of her eyesight but Zhang is always happy to read her the newspaper.When asked what they understand love to mean, the couple say they don't know but they just feel good when they are together.