Entering Splitsville, China

Within months, all three of his adult children and their spouses also split up. So did almost every other married person in Yan's village of 4,000 -- an astounding 98% of Renhe's married couples officially parted, according to the local government.

It was as if a spell had been cast over this once-quiet rural community in the Chinese heartland. Everybody suddenly seemed to have fallen out of love. The oldest among them were in their 90s and barely able to move. The youngest had just tied the knot. Some had babies.

But instead of tension or tears, the couples waiting in line at the local registry to end their marriages were practically jolly. They believed they were taking advantage of a legal loophole that allowed them to get an extra apartment.

In a country where the government has seized farm after farm to feed a building boom, the villagers figured that if they were going to lose the land that had supported them for generations, they should at least try to get a better deal.

"Basically, it's the government that forced us into this mess," said Yu Changle, a 70-year-old grandfather whose three children are also divorced. "They are not paying us enough to leave the land behind."

As they understood the compensation deal, each married couple would receive a small two-bedroom apartment in return for their land and farmhouse. Those divorced would get a one-bedroom apartment each. The villagers figured that would be a better deal, that they could live in one apartment and make a little extra income from selling or renting out the extra one.

So, whereas farmers elsewhere took to the streets with their picks and plows demanding higher compensation in protests seen across the Chinese countryside, the folks in Renhe took a gamble with their marriages.

"Divorced? How could I not be divorced? It's now a local custom!" Yan said as he sat on the stoop outside his new apartment building with a handful of neighbors -- all divorced, of course. "Even if we hate it, we have to do it. Divorce gives us a chance to sit on a longer bench. Don't get divorced, and you sit on a small stool or in the dirt."

But if what happened here is any guide, breaking up is hard to do, even if you don't mean it.