According to Ding Lu, director of the Women's Rights and Interests Department of the Federation, the Federation has put forward five proposals on amending the law:

— Bigamy and keeping extra-marital lovers should be resolutely curbed.

— Family property system should be improved to protect the legitimate rights and interests of women, since they are usually disadvantaged in the male-dominated world;

— Domestic violence should never be tolerated;

— Illegal marriages should be nullified;

— Divorced parents should have the right to visit children under custody of his ex-wife or her ex-husband.

"Such amendments are aimed at solving the problems of rising number of bigamy cases, domestic violence and the protection of women's rights," Ding said.

Of the 4,000 surveyed, aged 18 and above, 27.5 percent said that the new marriage law should maintain the principle of monogamy and ban bigamy.

Twenty-seven percent said that there should be gender equality, 23.8 percent said marriage solely arranged by parents should be prohibited and 14.9 percent said that extra-marital affairs should be outlawed.

The survey covered 10 provinces and cities including Beijing, Guangdong and Sichuan,and it is the first large-scale survey on the revision of the Marriage Law in China, Ding said.

There were 103 questions ranging from marriage, divorce, to property and domestic violence. Of those surveyed, 48.1 percent were men, 51.9 percent women.

(China Daily)