Shanghai plans to introduce an online appointment booking service for people wanting a divorce, in a bid to make the process more organized and convenient for the growing number of couples in the city looking to end their marriages.
近日，随着上海市寻求离婚的夫妇人数不断增加，为使办理流程更有秩序、更便捷，上海市计划为想办理离婚的人士推出网上预约服务。
Since the launch of the amended Marriage Registration Regulation on Feb 1, an added procedure involving inquiries and questions has increased the length of the process to register for a divorce from around 25 to 35 minutes to a new time of between 45 and 55 minutes.
自2月1日新《婚姻登记工作规范》发布以来，新增的询问程序导致办理离婚登记的耗时从25-35分钟左右延长至45-55分钟。
Couples must now talk to staff at the registration office separately to independently confirm their willingness to proceed and statements they have made.
现在，办理离婚的夫妇必须与登记处工作人员单独交谈，各自确认其离婚意愿、离婚协议。

The additional work and slower process was part of the reason why Pudong district's civil affairs bureau chose to reduce the number of appointments it would handle each day. That, in turn, has led to crowded waiting rooms.
这些附加的工作和缓慢的进程是浦东新区民政局选择每天限号办理离婚的部分原因。这反过来又导致了等候室的拥挤。
"We are discussing launching an online booking system for couples to select an appointment time in advance to shorten the waiting time and control the number of daily filings," said Sun Xiaohong, deputy director of the marriage management department at the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.
上海民政局婚姻管理处副主任孙晓红说道：“我们正在讨论推出一个在线预约系统，提前为夫妇选择预约时间，以缩短等待时间和控制日常的工作量。”
More than 3.6 million couples divorced across the country in 2014, 3.9 percent higher than in the previous year.
2014年我国共有超过360万对夫妇选择离婚，这一数字要比前一年高出3.9%。