What rights does a Foreign divorced man have Part 2

Hi:

I am really in a tight situation. I have been married to a chinese girl for 3 years and almost two years ago we got divorced.


We got divorced in mutal agreement, i agreed that my daughter has to be with her mom due to the fact that at that time she was only 2 years old.


To get right to the point, my question is. Is it true that a father here has no rights what so ever? I was told by lawyers that once the parent that has the child can do whatever he or she wants? Is that true?


I can only see my daughter when they want, and now they have moved to the south of china meaning that it will be more difficult to see her.


I went to many lawyers and the promised all sorts of things, in the end what they want is money and that is it. I do know for a fact that there is no law here when it comes to foreigners and chinese. The law does protects them no matter what the situation is.


Many times i was told that this is not the real world, where law is blind and a body of your peers decides what is legal and what is not. Here it seems to be the law of the jungle where the person with more "friends" has the right to do whatever they want.


Thank you soo much


(I am based in Beijing)

Dear Joe,


What happened when you got divorced? What did you sign? What exactly did the paper you signed say? Did you have any assets to split 50/50 ? Where there any accusations or stipulations recorded at that time?


I know several foreigners who have separated for various lengths of time from their Chinese wives, but none that have actually completed the divorce process. I have heard that the Chinese court is more fair to men than many Western courts and that in China the man can get custody of the child if he wants it. My guess is that they do not have the concept of joint custody however. I heard that a typical thing to do if there are two children is just give one to each parent. Also I do not think that there is any concept of court supervision or "going back to court" over anything.