When Dong Bing watched the television show "Heart Garden" he was surprised to see his ex-wife Bei appearing on the show.

He was even more surprised when she told the television audience that while she was married she had lived with another man who had fathered her child.

The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on Thursday agreed the surprise was too much and ordered the young mother to pay 30,000 yuan (US$3,947) to her ex-husband in compensation.

Dong Bing and Bei married in March 2004 and Bei gave birth to the baby later that year. Dong Bing told the court the marriage was troubled from the start as Bei spent only some time at home, claiming she was working in a business that took her out of town.

They finally divorced in August 2005 when the Pudong New Area People's Court awarded the guardianship of the child to Bei and ordered Dong to pay 300-yuan-a-month alimony till the child turned 18.

However in July last year Dong saw his ex-wife appear on the television talk show "Heart Garden," a show where guests bare their souls about their love affairs and ask for advice from the audience and psychologists.

On this program the woman talked about her past and how she had lived with another man for nearly two years during her marriage and had a child by that man. She even told the audience she had made her husband believe the child was his.

Although the woman wore a mask and used another name, Dong recognized her and was understandably shocked.

Dong asked for DNA test to ascertain the child's parentage but Bei refused this. However handwriting experts said that the diary produced for television was written by Bei.

(Shanghai Daily September 28, 2007)