Li Qiaochu: Day 504 since Xu Zhiyong and I applied to marry without success — filing an administrative reconsideration application over the Donggang District Civil Affairs Bureau of Rizhao’s failure to perform its duties

On August 24, 2026, I went to the marriage registration office in Donggang District, Rizhao, to inquire and learned that we could first submit both parties’ documents online for preliminary review and, once their authenticity and validity were verified, coordinate the next steps.

On August 27, I uploaded both parties’ documents to the Shandong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs platform. The process required selecting an appointment date before proceeding to preliminary review, so I chose September 3, completed the basic information, and submitted the application.

On the morning of August 31, the registration office called to say the preliminary review had passed, but told me only verbally that both parties’ documents had passed review. I said: “The online system still shows that the documents have not been reviewed. I need to print the appointment slip before going to communicate with the prison. How to arrange for an in-person visit is a matter for me to negotiate with the prison, but preliminary review of the documents is the marriage registration office’s responsibility. I am only asking that the uniform rules be followed.”

On the afternoon of September 1, I called again to ask. The staff member then said the online appointment system had malfunctioned and they did not know when it could be fixed, adding that preliminary reviews for all registrations were unavailable and that this was not directed at me. However, when the previously booked appointment time arrived on September 3, the system still displayed: “Appointment information has not yet passed review; printing unavailable.”

In fact, there are only two possibilities for the marriage registration office’s preliminary review: either it passes—in which case, please update the system, send a text message, and enable printing in accordance with the uniform rules—or documents are missing or invalid—in which case, please issue a notice requesting corrections. The situation I encountered—“verbally told it passed, the system simply will not show the review, and no corrections are required”—looks neither like “passed” nor “not passed.”

Yesterday, November 1, I filed for administrative reconsideration with the Donggang District People’s Government over the Donggang District Civil Affairs Bureau’s failure to perform its duties—

Under Article 10 of the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ “Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Implementation of the Marriage Registration Regulations,” people serving prison sentences may register their marriages with the marriage registration authority where the prison in which they are serving their sentences is located. The preliminary review checks whether the documents match the information in the connected databases; neither the review requirements nor the time limit differ based on the parties’ status. On August 31, the Donggang District Marriage Registration Office acknowledged verbally only that the documents were valid, but refused to record the result in the system as required by Article 20 of the “Marriage Registration Work Standards” and the service commitments publicly posted locally by Rizhao, preventing me from obtaining the preliminary review certificate stipulated by the platform. Under Article 65, Paragraph 2, Item 3 of the Administrative Reconsideration Law, I request that the conduct be confirmed as unlawful.

At the same time, to determine whether I was treated differently, I have also applied to the Donggang District Civil Affairs Bureau and its superior authority, the Rizhao Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, for government information disclosure regarding the handling of the Donggang District Marriage Registration Office’s appointment system malfunction and the records of requests to repair it.

The three legal documents mentioned above were delivered and signed for this afternoon.

Some time ago, the Shandong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs also published an article in Guangming Daily promoting the “sweet service” model used in marriage registration offices around the province. Reading the article made this “Ms. Bitter Melon” feel even more bitter. I do not need anything especially sweet; is it so difficult to be treated in accordance with the law and regulations?