Deaf mute couple's divorce proves hard to judge

A Chinese divorce judge found it difficult to reach a decision about one couple recently, because each partner was deaf and mute.

Wang Hong and Zhang Hai has both been divorced before but embarked on a second marriage in 2003.

However, earlier this year Ms Hong asked for a divorce from her second spouse on the grounds of incompatibility but her husband was not keen on the idea of a marital separation, the China Daily reports.

He said: "It is hard for disabled people to get married and I wanted to make it work."

Nonetheless they went to court, and communication problems made the process quite difficult for judge Xue Lixin, at Dagang Court, Tianjin until they decided to reply on text messages.

"In the end we found the case involved over 20 pages of communications and we sent 200 text messages," judge Lixin said.

Mr Zhang added: "I was so grateful the judges made such an effort to mediate in my case. They showed a lot of care."

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