A couple is waiting to submit application outside the divorce registration room. Residents file for a no-fault divorce at a civil affairs bureaum, and more complicated cases must be ruled on in court proceedings. Photo: VCG

A man in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, found out after his divorce that the son he had raised for 10 years was not his biological son. He then sued his ex-wife who was ordered by the court to pay 137,600 yuan ($19,162).

The man married his ex-wife after she became pregnant and gave birth to a son the following year. The two later divorced due to a breakdown in their relationship, and the child was raised by the man.

But the man gradually found that his son's appearance and personality were different from him, so he went for a paternity test. The results of the appraisal concluded that the father and son were not related by blood, which hit the man hard.

The man then sued his ex-wife to the court. The court ruled that the woman should raise the child by herself, and returned 117,600 yuan ($16,377) in child support to the man and 20,000 yuan ($2,785) in compensation for emotional distress.