Thousands Participate in Traditional Group Weddings Across China
President Xi Jinping's big announcement to combat the declining birthrate Government-sponsored, free of charge participation and in some cases, luxurious gifts
A dynamic group wedding ceremony
Thousands of men and women holding hands in traditional red costumes, couples riding roller coasters and shouting words of love…
Dynamic mass weddings are being held all over China. Not all of them are organized by private companies in the wedding industry. There are also many events sponsored by the Chinese government.
In September, the government led a mass wedding ceremony with 5,105 couples and 10,210 people participating. The main venue was in the capital, Beijing, and 50 locations across the country were connected online, making it one of the largest weddings ever. Any couple can participate as long as they have obtained a marriage certificate, and there is no fee. The wedding ceremony was a lavish affair, with rings, photo albums, and other gifts given to the couples. Now President Xi Jinping himself is taking the lead, instructing young people to ‘strengthen guidance for romance, marriage, and childbirth.
The background to this is the serious decline in the birth rate and the growing trend away from marriage among young people. Perhaps due to China’s “one-child policy,” the number of births last year reached a record low of 9.02 million, the unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds was around 20%, and the number of marriages among young people anxious about their future peaked at 13.46 million in 2001 and dropped to 7.68 million last year, half the number of previous years. Chinese journalist Zhou Laiyu explains.
The government, impatient with the rapid decline in the number of births, is encouraging mass weddings as a countermeasure to the declining birthrate. The government is trying to attract the interest of young people by offering lavish gifts and inviting couples to amusement parks. National universities have established courses titled “How to Make a Lover. The “sponsors” who used to be in charge of bringing men and women together at companies and municipalities have also been revived. A woman called “Grandma Wang,” who organizes public matchmaking events, has more than 7 million followers on social networking sites.
Anxiety” among young people
Will government-sponsored mass wedding ceremonies really be the answer to the declining birthrate? Mr. Zhou is skeptical.
The bottleneck is the expensive wedding gifts, such as cars and precious metals, given by men to women, which are customary in China. The total cost of these gifts can run into the millions of yen, so how can young people, who are suffering from high unemployment, come up with the money? Marriage will only increase their hardships and provide few benefits. In the first place, young people are cold toward government policies. In China, many things are subject to government regulation, including education and speech. They would probably prefer that the government not interfere in the ultimate private decisions, such as marriage and childbirth.”
In order to increase the birth rate, we should make it a priority to relieve the anxiety of young people rather than holding lavish mass weddings. ……
From the November 1-8, 2024 issue of FRIDAY
PHOTO： Afro VCG/Afro
