Lavish Weddings Make Comeback in China
Weddings in China are costing 10 times more this decade because the “social pollution” of lavish marriage celebrations has been revived, the official New China News Agency said Tuesday.
It reported that a survey by the All-China Women’s Federation and the official China Women’s News showed weddings cost the equivalent of $270 to $810 last year, compared to $27 to $81 in 1980.
The average Chinese urban worker earns about 100 yuan ($27) a month.
Demands by fathers of brides for more money from bridegrooms’ families have “polluted social morality and increased the number of cases of conflict between couples, forced marriage, suicide and murder and slowed the development of the rural economy,” the news agency said.
It blamed the lavish weddings on feudal influences, a desire to show off and lack of action against them by rural officials.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
