If one of a married couple is missing, the other party can address issues related to divorce in the following two ways according to China’s laws.
[I] Directly file for divorce in the people’s court located in the plaintiff’s domicile or habitual residence.

Article 151 of Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on Some Issues Concerning the Application of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates, “The people’s court shall accept and hear a case in which one of the married couple disappears and the other party files for divorce only, but not for the declaration of absence or death of the disappeared person. In addition, litigation documents shall be delivered to the disappeared person through announcement.”

Article 84 of Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China pinpoints that “Litigation documents that cannot be reached to the recipient due to the recipient’s disappearance or in other ways specified in the present section shall be delivered through announcement. The documents are deemed to reach the recipient 60 days after the announcement is released.” Shanghai divorce lawyers emphasized that the court serves the defendant with litigation documents through announcement which shall be deemed to reach the recipient whether the defendant see it or not. If the defendant doesn’t appear in court or respond to the lawsuit within the time limit set by the court, the court may proceed with the hearing and make a judgement by default.
[II] Apply for the declaration of absence or death of the disappeared person for the purpose of dissolution of marriage

Conditions for the declaration of absence: Article 40 of General Provisions of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China says, “Where a natural person has disappeared for two years, an interested party may apply to a people’s court for a declaration of absence of the natural person.” And Article 41 of General Provisions of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China says, “The period of disappearance of a natural person shall be counted from the day when he or she is not heard from. If a person disappears during a war, the period of disappearance shall be counted from the day when the war ends or from the date of absence as confirmed by the relevant authority.”

The people’s court shall issue an announcement to look for the disappeared person after accepting and hearing a case concerning the declaration of absence. If the announcement period which shall be 3 months expires and the disappeared person is still not heard from, the people’s court shall make a judgement to declare the absence. After one of the married couple is declared to be an absentee, the other party files for divorce, the people’s court shall make a judgement in accordance with one of the provisions of Article 32 of Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China, “If either party has been declared by court as to be missing and the other party applies to be divorced, divorce shall be granted.”

Legal basis: Article 31 of Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China: Where either the husband or wife applies to get divorced, the departments concerned may make mediations, or he or she may file a suit at the people’s court for divorce. The people’s court shall make mediations in the process of hearing a divorce suit; divorce shall be granted if mediation fails because mutual affection no longer exists. Divorce shall be granted if any of the following circumstances occurs and mediation fails:

(I) either party is a bigamist or a person who has a spouse but co-habits with another person;

(II) there is family violence or maltreatment or desertion of any family member;

(III) either party is indulged in gambling, drug-abuse or has other vicious habits and refuses to mend his or her ways despite of repeated admonition;

(IV) both parties have lived separately due to lack of mutual affection for up to two years;

(V) other circumstances that have led to the nonexistence of mutual affection as husband and wife.

If either party has been declared by court as to be missing or the other party applies to be divorced, divorce shall be granted.

Conditions for the declaration of death: Shanghai divorce lawyers explained in accordance with Article 46 of General Provisions of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China, “Where a natural person falls under any of the following circumstances, an interested party may apply to a people’s court for a declaration of death of the natural person.”

(I) The natural person has disappeared for four years.

(II) The natural person has disappeared for two years from an accident.

Where a person has disappeared from an accident, and it is impossible for the person to survive the accident as certified by the relevant authority, an application for a declaration of death of the person is not subject to the two-year period.

The people’s court shall issue a one-year announcement to look for the disappeared person after accepting and hearing a case concerning the declaration of death. If a person has disappeared from an accident and it is impossible for the person to survive the accident as certified by the relevant authority, the announcement period shall be 3 months. When the period expires, the people’s court shall make a judgement to declare the death. One of the husband and wife is declared to be dead, the marriage is automatically dissolved from the date of the declaration of death.

Shanghai divorce lawyers also stated that, “Divorce will be granted in the above two ways if you cannot find the other party, but the legal consequences related to distribution of property arising therefrom are different.”

In the case of a divorce due to absence, the court will divide the jointly owned property in accordance with Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China. The most common way is to equally distribute the jointly owned property. However, as for the legal consequences of the declaration of death, General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China specifies that an absentee’s property shall be placed in the custody of others, the divorce settlement is the same as the property division of normal divorce. The legal consequences of the declaration of death equal to that of factual death. The jointly owned property shall be divided first after the declaration of death, and the wife can inherit part of the heritage of the person declared dead as one of the rightful heirs.

Legal basis: Article 42 of General Provisions of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China: The property of an absentee shall be under the custody of his or her spouse, adult children, parents, or any other person willing to act as custodian of the property. If there is any dispute over custody or the persons as mentioned in the preceding paragraph do not exist or are incapable of custody, the property shall be under the custody of a person designated by a people’s court.