BEIJING – China’s low birth rate problems have been further complicated by the high prices demanded by the families of potential brides for traditional dowries. Chinese social media platforms were recently appalled by the price a groom’s family was asked to pay, even leading authorities to censor the story.
The engaged couple in question saw their brief engagement collapse after the bride’s family demanded $163,000 for the privilege of marrying their daughter. Due to the lack of economic resources, the couple was forced to separate.
“I always thought excessive bride prices were stories that only existed on the internet until it happened to my own family,” read the first line of what was one of the site’s most popular articles. The writer’s cousin fell in love with a woman from Jiangxi province.
A Chinese bride in a traditional red wedding dress looks out over her city before the wedding ceremony.
(Fox Digital News)
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The article went viral, receiving some 22 million views, with many of the comments congratulating the groom and his family for avoiding the terrible in-laws.
People react as their wedding photos are taken near the Forbidden City in Beijing on March 15, 2021.
(REUTERS/Tingshu Wang)
The dowry tradition of giving gifts to the bride’s family has been around for hundreds of years in China, and although a 1950 law outlawed forced marriages and any form of solicitation of property, the custom has largely endured.
China’s substantial demographic imbalance has been one cause of rising costs. The communist nation ended its one-child policy in 2015 and it has since resulted in a surplus of about 34 million men, as many families prefer having a son over a daughter. In many areas, the average bride price can easily be five times the average annual disposable income, and financial pressures have led to this becoming a problem for the Chinese authorities.
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With a population of around 1.4 billion people, China remains the world’s most populous nation. However, with birth rates declining for years, it is estimated to hit an all-time low this year, falling below 10 million from last year’s 10.6 million births. Furthermore, China’s fertility rate of 1:16 in 2021 was below the OECD standard of 2:1 for a stable population.
A groom raises a cloth covering his bride’s face during their traditional Chinese wedding ceremony in Beijing May 15, 2004. Some young people in China are going back to their roots for more traditional weddings and moving away from more traditional style ceremonies. Western which had gained popularity.
(REUTERS/WC by Wilson Chu)
To combat low growth rates, the Chinese authorities have recently introduced numerous measures to encourage couples to have more children, including extended maternity leave and other financial incentives. Beijing also installed a 30-day cooling-off period for couples who want to get divorced. However, the willingness to have more children is among the lowest in the world. According to the Chinese government, excessive bride prices are yet another obstacle for young people to start a family.
Recently, local authorities have implemented numerous rules to curb excessive bride prices. In September, the national authorities also decided to intervene when they announced a nationwide test campaign to “promote a series of standards” and a strict regulation on “vulgar standards”. The campaign will last until the end of the year.
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An expectant mother Li Zhao, 35, chooses baby products at a store in Beijing October 30, 2015. Li Zhao, an office worker who is six months pregnant, said the one-child policy was cruel because having a baby is a basic civil right. However, she does not want to have a second baby for personal reasons. China has undone its one-child policy, for decades a symbol of invasive and coercive government planning, but the change has been met with a disinterested shrug from many young couples.
(REUTERS/Kim Kyung-hoon)
Reuters recently reported that China’s National Health Commission said that COVID-19 has also contributed to the decline in country’s marriage and birth rates.
The Reuters report went on to say that demographers have also said that China’s intransigent “zero-COVID” policy to quickly eradicate any outbreak with strict controls on people’s lives may have done deep and lasting damage to their desire to have children.
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Reuters contributed to this report.
