Survey: Chinese reluctant about prenups

BEIJING - A recent survey showed that fewer than 5 percent of the couples in China's first-tier cities have entered into prenuptial agreements, and nearly 90 percent of unmarried people dislike the idea of establishing official records of what property they owned before getting married.

The Beijing-based Horizon Research Consultancy Group polled 3,089 people whose ages ranged from 18 to 60 in December 2010 and released the survey results on Tuesday. The participants lived in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and seven other cities.

"Prenuptial agreements can be helpful in ascertaining legal facts when two people divorce, especially in ascertaining who owns movable property such as cash and jewelry," said Ding Haibin, a marriage lawyer in Shanghai.