Lightning marriage over in a flash

A woman who married a man she had known for 14 days has had their two-day partnership annulled by the court after the man skipped town, Chongqing Evening News reported Tuesday.

The report said the 30-year-old woman identified by the alias Chen Li, who was studying in Chongqing municipality for a master's degree, first met a man also identified by an alias, Zhang Jun, 36, on Feb 8. Zhang later became her husband.

Zhang, then using his private car as a taxi, picked up Chen on her way to a train station. The two had a pleasant chat on the way. Chen left her phone numbers after they arrived at the train station and separated.

Zhang later invited Chen to travel together with him to Chongqing, and proposed to her during the tour. On Feb 22, they obtained their marriage license.

After tying the knot they lived in a local hotel for two days, until Zhang said he had to leave immediately to go to the construction site he worked at in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and then left. Chen has since lost contact with him.

Chen later lodged a lawsuit to a local court for divorce. Zhang was reached by the court, but he said he refused to divorce unless his new wife could pay off his debts to the construction site. The court granted their divorce without imposing any financial obligations for the female.

The court said it gave the verdict as the couple in the lightning marriage had not evolved into a mature and stable marital relationship, had no shared assets or children involved in the case.