The Love Hospital that separates spouses from their lovers

The Love Hospital that separates spouses from their lovers

A new industry has emerged in China, helping husbands and wives to separate their unfaithful spouses from their lovers. It's called mistress dispelling, in which clients often pay tens of thousands of dollars to see off unwanted love rivals.

A middle-aged woman wearing a funereal black lace dress and large, incongruous sunglasses is ushered into the dimly lit office. She wants her name to remain secret so I will call her Mrs X, but she is happy to talk about her experiences as a client of the Weiqing Love Hospital, Shanghai's best-known Mistress Dispeller service.

In a quiet, quavering voice she tells me that her relationship with her husband has emerged from a crisis stronger than it was in the past. "I thought it was marriage before, but I see now something better, this is real living," she enthuses, though her eyes remain resolutely cast down.

What she's describing is the many weeks of marriage counselling she has received, a lesson in positivity and how to be a better, more dutiful wife. Ming Li, a co-founder of Weiqing, counsels women like her (it's overwhelmingly women who seek help) about the secrets of successful wedlock, and how to prevent a husband's attentions from wandering. In many cases, though, it's too late and his attentions have already wandered.

"When I discovered the affair, I confronted my husband," Mrs X says. "We fought bitterly and I kept on asking him, 'Why - why, when I have followed you so many years?' At first he expressed guilt. But after all the fighting, he just didn't want to talk to me any more. That's when I sought help."