Don't get mad, get your opponent to surrender voluntarily: when Mrs Wang discovered her husband had been cheating on her for several years, she called in an elite team of Chinese "mistress hunters".

婚姻遭遇“第三者”？别发怒，想法儿让对手自动走人：当王女士发现丈夫已出轨多年后，她选择求助中国“情妇猎手”的精英团队。

Rather than seek a divorce -- which could have hit her social and financial standing -- she hired a specialist to earn the other woman's trust, and then persuaded her to end the extra-marital relationship.

王女士不想离婚，因为那会损害其社会和经济地位。她聘请了一位专业人士去赢得那位“第三者”的信任，然后说服她结束与自己丈夫的婚外情。

It was a longstanding affair, but once the mistress hunters were called in, it was over within two months.

这段维持已久的关系仅在“情妇猎手”介入后的两个月内就结束了。

Wang said she paid between 400,000 and 500,000 yuan ($60,000-$75,000) for the service.

王女士说自己为这项服务支付了40到50万人民币（6万到7.5万美元）。

"I think it was worth it, I’m satisfied," she added. So much so, she is now thinking of becoming a hunter herself.

她补充道：“我觉得值这个价，我很满意。”甚至她自己都在考虑是否成为一名“猎手”。

"That way I can help women protect their families and their rights," she explained.

她解释说：“这样我就能帮助其他女性保护她们的家庭和权利。”

The company Wang used, Weiqing -- or "protector of feelings" -- has 59 offices across the country, and offers free legal advice and lectures.

王女士聘请的公司“卫情”（意为情感护卫者）在全国有59个办事处，还提供免费法律咨询和讲座。

Its founder Shu Xin said he has 300 agents at his command.

这家公司的创始人舒心（音）说，他手下有300名办事员。

"My goal is to prevent divorces," he told reporters at his upmarket Beijing headquarters. "Every year we save some 5,000 couples."

在其高端的北京总部，舒心（音）告诉记者：“我的目的是阻止离婚发生。每年我们都能挽救大约5000对夫妻的婚姻。”

-- Learn the ropes --

掌握门道

The mistress hunters are mostly women and are all psychology, sociology or law graduates.

“情妇猎手”大多为女性，且都是心理学、社会学或法学的毕业生。

They spend three years learning the ropes before being sent out into the field, where they pose as neighbours, cleaners or even babysitters.

进入“实战”之前，她们要花费三年时间掌握这一行的门道。她们会伪装成邻居、清洁工甚至保姆来与情妇接触。

Ming Li, 47, has been doing the job for three years. "I’m older than these mistresses, in general, so they listen to me," she said.

现年47岁的明丽（音）从事这行已有3年。她说：“我比这些情妇年龄要大，一般说来，她们都会听我的。”

"If the mistress goes to a park, to the supermarket or to work, I’ll happen to meet her. And even if she is a stay-at-home sort of person, I can claim I’ve got a leak in my apartment and ask for her help," she told reporters. "We always find a way to initiate contact.

她告诉记者：“如果情妇要去公园、超市或去工作，我就会与她偶遇。即使她是宅在家的类型，我也可以借口公寓漏水请她帮忙。我们总有办法接近她们。”

"One time, I pretended to be a fortune teller, and the mistress asked me to tell hers. Obviously, I already knew all about her from the wife, so it was easy to leave her dumbfounded and exhort her to leave the husband. It was one of our most quickly resolved cases."

“有一次，我伪装成了算命的，那个情妇就让我帮她算算。当然，我已经从客户那里对她了如指掌，所以很容易就把她说懵了，接着我就劝她离开我客户的丈夫。这是我们完成得最快的案子之一。”

- 'Being unfaithful is easy' -

“出轨是很容易的”

Chinese divorce rates have surged from 1.59 per 1,000 people in 2007 to 2.67 in 2014, according to the most recently available civil affairs ministry figures -- far higher than in Europe, with France at 1.9 and Italy at just 0.9.

据可获得的民政部最新数据，2014年，中国的离婚率已经从2007年的1.59‰上升到2.67‰，远高于欧洲。法国的离婚率是1.9‰，而意大利仅有0.9‰。

In Beijing, official statistics show 73,000 couples divorced in 2015 -- almost three times the number nine years previously.

在北京，官方数据显示2015年有7.3万对夫妻离婚，几乎是九年前数字的三倍。

"The reasons? The liberalisation of morals, tensions related to differences between the husband's and the wife's income, incompatible personalities," said Zhu Ruilei, a divorce attorney at Beijing-based law firm Yingke. "But also the desire to pursue personal dreams is stronger than it used it be."

北京盈科律师事务所的离婚律师朱瑞磊（音）说：“离婚的原因？道德自由化，夫妻收入差异带来的关系紧张，以及性格不合。还有就是人们追求个人梦想的意愿比以往更强了。”

According to a study by dating site Baihe.com, at least one party has been unfaithful in half of Chinese first marriages.

根据婚恋服务网站百合网的调查，在半数的中国初次婚姻中，至少一方有出轨行为。

The survey found that more than 21 percent of first time husbands have had a mistress, and a similar number -- 20 percent -- of wives have had a lover. In nearly nine percent of first marriages, both partners have cheated.

这项调查发现，超过21%的初婚丈夫有情妇。而与之相当的是，20%的初婚妻子有情夫。在近9%的初次婚姻中，夫妻双方都有出轨行为。

"Today being unfaithful has become easy, especially with the internet," said Pan Xingshi, who runs an online advice company, referring to the popularity of Tantan, China's equivalent of Tinder.

潘兴时（音）经营一家在线咨询公司。他在谈及时下流行的社交应用“探探”（中国版Tinder）时说：“如今出轨变得很容易，尤其是借助互联网。”

But mistresses are still poorly regarded in the country, where having children out of wedlock remains socially taboo. They are known as "xiaosan", a derogatory term meaning a third person of lower rank than a wife.

但在中国，情妇名声依然糟糕，非婚生子女也仍是社会禁忌。情妇被称为“小三”，这个贬义称谓意为地位低于妻子的第三者。

Sometimes they fall victim to violent vigilantism.

有时，她们还会成为暴力私刑的受害者。

In June, a video went viral showing a naked girl being attacked by a group of women. She was suspected of being the mistress of one of the women's husbands.

今年6月，一段在网上疯传的视频显示一个裸体女孩被一群女子围殴。她被怀疑是其中一名女子丈夫的情人。