Shanghai: As more foreigners visit or settle down in this city, the age gaps in international marriages have become less of a contrast than years ago.

Shanghai's citizens have chosen marriage partners from continents across the globe.

As of yesterday, the Shanghai Municipal Marriage Registration Division under the Shanghai Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau said it had handled registrations of 1,766 international couples this year.

"I was deeply moved by the love revealed in their eyes and naturally kept on congratulating them," said Zhou Jixiang, director of the division, who had just accomplished the registration for a Shanghai bride and a Japanese groom.

Zhou said the woman spoke fluent Japanese language and was almost the same age as her husband who said he was in business.

Statistics show the age difference of such international couples is around 10 years and keeps on narrowing as locals become more selective about choosing foreign partners.

The case was totally different two decades ago when young Shanghai women tended to marry foreign men, perhaps choosing wealth and support over love.

Experts said since male foreigners generally had obvious advantages in terms of economic and social status, Shanghai women tended to be less picky about age.

An extreme case was recorded in 1996 when an American man of 81 took a 27-year-old Shanghai bride.

"International marriages are becoming more and more normal fruits of love, though there are still utilitarians playing around," said an expert surnamed Shi with the Family and Marriage Research Institute at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

When commenting on a report in the Shanghai-based Wenhui Daily on surging divorce rates among international couples, Shi said there are more risks in international marriages due to inherent problems over different cultural ideals and customs.

Wenhui Daily reported that 120 international couples sought divorces with the civil affairs bureau, but mentioned no figures from local courts where international couples would usually go to seek divorces.

(China Daily  September 8, 2004)