In a high-profile divorce case that sparked heated debates in China, a man divorced his wife of 16 years after learning that none of the three children she birthed during their marriage were his.
In December 2007, Chen Zhixian married Yu Hua, a woman eight years his junior, soon after meeting her for the first time. She seemed like a simple, down-to-earth woman, and his parents had long been pressuring him to settle down, so he never really took the time to know her. Soon after tying the knot, Yu Hua informed Chen that she was pregnant, and he was so overwhelmed by the news that he was going to be a father, that he never realized his wife had to have already been pregnant when they met to have a child when she did. Yu gave birth to the couple’s first daughter, and her husband became a long-distance freight driver who was away for most of the year, only coming home, in Dexing, Jianxi Province, for short periods of time.
Photo: Upstream News Reporter Shen Du
The years passed, and Yu Hua gave birth to another daughter, which Chen assumed was his, but he started suspecting his wife’s infidelity in 2019, when she informed him that she was pregnant once again. This time, Chen knew that he hadn’t been home when the baby had been conceived, and he confronted his wife about it. She insisted that the baby was his, and in the end, the man accepted her version and welcomed his third daughter.
It was in November of 2022 that Chen Zhixian finally became convinced that his wife hadn’t been faithful. He learned that she had been having an affair with a man named Wu, and that she had given birth to her fourth daughter at a hospital in Shangrao City. Instead of confronting Yu Hua, Chen got a lawyer and went to the hospital to investigate. He learned that she had indeed given birth to a girl there that month, but the release form featured his name as the father as well as a forged signature.
Convinced that his previous suspicions of Yu Hua’s infidelity had been correct, Chen filed for divorce and ordered a paternity test for each of his children. The result was shocking – none of the three daughters he had raised as his own had been conceived with him. The heartbroken man took his wife to court and asked for paternity of the children anyway, but also for compensation for emotional distress.
The case made news headlines in China for over a year, with both parties getting their fair share of support and criticism. Yu Hua managed to rally some support after accusing Chen of domestic violence, and telling reporters that he beat her mother who was trying to protect her. He admitted to having an altercation with his mother-in-law while confronting his wife about her infidelity but claimed he got carried away in an uncharacteristic fit of rage.
On December 29, 2023, a family court issued its final verdict in this polarizing divorce case. Chen Zhixian was awarded custody of his two eldest daughters, while his wife was ordered to give up her claims to material possessions and to pay monthly alimony to her ex-husband.
Chen Zhixian told Chinese news media that the revelations of his ex-wife’s infidelity and his daughters’ paternity left him traumatized and that he plans to move on and start a new life.
