"Shanghai Marriage and Family Counselor" training class officially appointed by the talent development center for All China Women's Federation and China's International Marriage and Family Association will commence its first course on July 1. More than 3000 inquiries and applications have been made via the telephone to date.

From the list of applicants, 40 percent are from high-knowledge and high-net worth families. Many people came in their BMW's but complained of mental isolation. In the two-person family "War of the Roses", the phenomenon of "psychological violence" that has no blood or screaming curses is becoming serious.

In developed countries such as the Europe and the US, there is one marriage and family counselor for every 500 people. China's marriage and family counselors are at the startup phase, facing strong market demand. Relevant organizations predict that in the future China needs at least 1 million marriage and family counseling professionals.

As a marriage and family counselor, one must first "advise reconciliation and not separation" using knowledge of marriage and family laws to teach both parties to self-elevate psychic and mental health and raise the quality of marital and family life.

Information supplied by Shanghai's "Marriage and Family Counselor" training course shows that the instability in China's marriages and families is on the rise. Up to 70 percent of people are, to varying degrees, afflicted with growing problems of inability to marry, extra-marital affairs, divorces, single-parent household, family arguments, violence and children's education and emotional conflicts. At present, in Shanghai, the myth of broken marriages confined to middle aged couples or the so-called "seven-year itch" has been shattered. Many people head for divorce courts one or two years after getting married.

(China News Service June 30, 2006)