As Marilyn Monroe's 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch suggested, after seven years, marriages have a high risk of coming to an end.

That duration is even shorter for China's post-1980 generation, if two court reports are to be believed.

A report released by Shanghai's Huangpu District People's Court ahead of Singles' Day on Monday said the length of marriages it legally put asunder averaged only three years and nine months.