A deputy to the National People's Congress wants to amend the Marriage Register Regulation to make it more difficult for couples to divorce, the Chongqing Evening News reported on March 10.

Hei Xinwen, who is also a senior executive of Southwest Computer Co. Ltd., blamed China's high divorce rate on the relative ease of getting a divorce.

To get a divorce, couples need only apply to local bureau of civil affairs with their IDs, residence permits, marriage certificate, divorce agreement and a letter from their workplace or residents' committee explaining their inability to get along.

Hei wants the committee to provide an additional certificate acknowledging that mediation attempts have failed.

China registered 1.71 million divorces in 2009, a 10.3-percent increase over 2008. Hei said many of them were triggered by trivial problems.

"More and more young couples are getting divorced on impulse," Hei said.

She noted that Western countries have much more difficult divorce procedures. In Germany, the higher-earning spouse is required to pay alimony up to almost half of his income to the other during the process. In the U.S., the divorce process takes at least six months to complete.

Hei said she has seen workplace and residents' committees prevent divorce with successful mediation. "The problem of a family is just like a sore in one's arm," she said. "We can find a doctor to cure it instead of cutting off the whole arm."