China struggles to stop ‘bride price’ custom amid falling birth rates

Beijing: As part of increasing the birthrate in the nation China is cracking down on a wedding custom that will cost a groom-to-be multiples of his annual income.

Nearly all marriages in China, groom-to-be pays a betrothal gift or caili to the woman’s family to show his ‘sincerity and wealth’, as per a report by Bloomberg.

The custom prescribes the man to pay tens of thousands of dollars, making it highly expensive.

A survey in 2020 of 1,846 residents conducted by Tencent News found nearly three-quarters of marriages involving the custom.

China has taken a serious note of the custom recently, though it is not the first time authorities target it.

China is all set to stop its ‘demographic decline’, after decades of one-child policy.

A fall in population could shrink workforce, flag consumer demand and increase strain on the health-care.

China’s head of the family development agency urged the local governments to initiate steps to encourage more births.

The step comes a month after China reported its first population fall in 60 years.

The increasing cost of the marriage is found to be a reason behind fewer people getting married and having children.

That is happening, particularly, at a time when the nation’s economic growth is slowing.

The central Hebei province initiated steps to discourage the custom which it termed as ‘ugly marriage traditions’.

Meanwhile, the coastal Jiangsu province launched a campaign to find ‘the most beautiful mother-in-law" who will not ask for too much money

In February, single females in Jiangxi area singed a letter promising never to press for expensive caili.

The caili custom takes its origin from China's one-child policy, which caused a ‘huge surplus of men’.

That gender imbalance made the bride's family ask for higher prices from grooms.

Now the authorities are terming it an ‘antiquated relic’ required to be done away with, but it is hard to change people's minds.