By Huang Jingjing

Women in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, will have the right to know how much money and property their husbands may be hiding from them under a new regulation to protect womens' rights.

The regulation to be implemented next Tuesday would also give husbands the right to know their wives' secret assets.

But the regulation sparked debate over how far the government should go to protect women. Even some women say the regulation is meaningless.

The regulation stipulates that couples will be able to check each other's assets and property at various government agents, including real estate and vehicle administrators, provided that they have valid documents, such as marriage certificates.

"Before, you couldn't check a spouse's property. Now, we have included that right in the law, which is a big step toward the protection of women's rights and interests," Li Jianlan, head of Guangzhou Women's Federation, was quoted as saying by Nanfang Daily.

Some legal experts questioned whether the regulation is useful.

Mi Liangyu, a Beijing-based marriage law expert, said the regulation might disrupt personal life.

"It will not only damage marital relations, but also lead to the misuse of public power," he told a television program earlier. "You can question me about my wealth. But if you use the law to check on me, you hurt me."

Su Chunmei, a Guangzhou lawyer specializing in marital and family disputes, said she does not support the regulation, either.

"Marriage should be based on mutual trust and sincerity. It cannot be maintained by agreement or law," she told the Global Times Thursday.

She added that the regulation would not be helpful if the spouse purchased the property out of Guangzhou.

"When a man does not want to share property, he can always find ways to conceal or transfer his property without you discovering it," she said.

Max Chen, a married man in Guangzhou, told the Global Times that he gives a large part of his salary to his wife, and he supports the regulation.

But he added that the regulation may reinforce the conception that women are always weaker than men.

"It aims to protect women," he said. "But it conveys a message that women are weaker and earn less money than men instead of promoting equality between the two sexes."

Li Yafeng, a 36-year-old married woman in Guangzhou, told the Global Times that women deserve protection because they are often in a more disadvantaged position than men when seeking to remarry.

"The regulation is a good effort to protect weaker women," she said. "Women are always losers in divorce cases."

Fan Pulin, a counselor based in Urumqi, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, told the Global Times that the regulation would not hurt marriage relationships.

"The marriage is already hurt if the spouse concealed his or her property. How can we say that the marriage will be hurt if we can check the property of our partner?" she said.