China plans marriage database to catch cheaters

China's exploding wealth has created a culture of secret mistresses and second wives.

Now officials are putting marriage records online so lovers and spouses can check for cheaters.

State media yesterday said Beijing and Shanghai are among the first places to put marriage databases online this year.

The plan is to have records for all of China online by 2015, though past efforts to do so were delayed.

Bigamy is illegal in China, and corruption inspectors with the ruling Communist Party have said several officials have been guilty.

That includes the former head of the National Bureau of Statistics, Qiu Xiaohua. He was called a "vile social and political influence" and expelled from the party in 2007.

- AP