Breaking old rules and bad habits and promoting rural revitalization
High-priced betrothal gifts in rural areas exacerbate difficulties in getting married and having children
□ Our reporter Pu Xiaolei
The issue of high-priced bride price in rural areas was once again named by the No. 1 Central Document.
The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Doing a Good Job in Comprehensively Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in 2022" issued on February 22 requires that governance methods such as the points system should be promoted, village rules and regulations, family education and family style should be effectively brought into play, and the reform of rural marriage customs should be promoted. Carry out pilot projects and reform of funeral customs, and carry out special treatment of prominent problems in key areas of changing customs, such as high-priced betrothal gifts and large-scale activities.
A reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" noted that this is the third time that the Central No. 1 document has named the issue of rural bride price after 2019 and 2021.
For a period of time, the amount of betrothal gifts in some rural areas has been relatively high, which has aroused social concern about high-priced betrothal gifts.
Sun Yuhua, an associate researcher at the China Rule of Law Strategy Research Center at East China University of Political Science and Law, has traveled to many places to investigate high-priced betrothal gifts and found that high-priced betrothal gifts are the result of a combination of factors such as unbalanced urban and rural development, gender ratio imbalance, and comparison psychology. Raising the threshold for marriage in some rural areas will exacerbate the problem of difficulty in getting married and having children. For this problem, we must work together to rectify this problem by developing the rural economy and promoting the reform of marriage customs.”
Hidden contradictions in family life after marriage
When Sun Yuhua went to the central province for research, he was surprised by the high amount of betrothal gifts in some local villages.
"Marriage-age girls are very popular here. Even if they are illiterate and have a little disability, if the man wants to marry her home, the starting price must be 200,000 yuan. You must know that the income of local residents is not high, and the rural areas are even lower. This also means that the man has to empty his family's savings or even borrow money to take out the betrothal gift." Sun Yuhua said.
The phenomenon of high-priced bride price also exists in coastal provinces.
During his research, Sun Yuhua found that in some rural areas in Huaian, Jiangsu, there are more boys than girls, and the phenomenon of "rarity is more expensive" makes the woman's family have a high stake in the game, and there is a lot of choice, and the price of the betrothal gift is therefore cheaper. section climbs.
Looking at the country, the phenomenon of high-priced bride price is not uncommon.
A 2020 "China Dowry Gift Map" from Guyu Data shows that Zhejiang's average value of 183,000 yuan, far exceeding the national average of 69,095 yuan, ranks first among all regions; the average gift money of Heilongjiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia Also more than 100,000 yuan.
Sun Yuhua believes that high-priced betrothal gifts will not only bring a heavy economic burden to farmers' families, but also affect farmers' pension and fertility problems. "In rural areas, especially in some underdeveloped areas, the level of security for farmers is not very high. The high-priced bride price will empty out the wallets of the elders, and the rural pension problem will be more affected. At the same time, the difficulty of marriage caused by the high-priced bride price will further cause the problem of childbirth, which will further reduce the birth rate. There are huge downsides to forming a reasonable demographic."
"The high-priced bride price deviates from the original intention of love and the essence of marriage, making marriage a material exchange, and even burying hidden contradictions in family life after marriage," said Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China.
Liu Junhai's point of view has also been confirmed by relevant research - a survey of Guyu data shows that more than 40% of families have conflicts over the issue of betrothal gifts.
Central document calls for curbing bad ethos
Regarding the issue of high-priced bride price, the central government attaches great importance to it, and has repeatedly named and emphasized the need to strengthen governance.
In 2019, the Central No. 1 document called for the first time to name the sky-high betrothal gifts, and called for the governance of bad social customs such as marriage and funeral habits, sky-high betrothal gifts, declining filial piety, and lack of support for the elderly.
The No. 1 Central Document in 2021 proposes to "intensify the governance of high-priced betrothal gifts, human comparisons, high burial and low support, extravagance and waste, feudal superstition and other bad habits."
In June 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Decision on Optimizing the Fertility Policy to Promote the Long-term Balanced Development of the Population", proposing to "break the stereotypes and bad habits such as high-priced betrothal gifts and build a new culture of marriage and childbirth".
In recent years, the governance work of relevant departments and localities has also been actively promoted.
In October 2019, 11 departments including the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Promoting the Change of Customs and Building a Civilized Township", which clearly identified the boycott of sky-high betrothal gifts as one of the important tasks of changing customs.
In April 2021, the Ministry of Civil Affairs confirmed 15 counties (urban areas) as national marriage customs reform experimental areas, vigorously promoting the change of customs in the field of marriage, and the experimental period will last for three years.
In September of the same year, 17 units including Feixiang District, Handan City, Hebei Province were confirmed as the second batch of national marriage customs reform experimental areas.
"The Ministry of Civil Affairs will continue to do a good job in the pilot reform of marriage customs, and increase the rectification of unhealthy practices such as sky-high bride price gifts and vulgar marriage troubles," said Jia Weizhou, a spokesman for the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Promote rural revitalization and vigorously develop manufacturing industry
Recently, a video "What should I do if my girlfriend was forcibly dragged away without a 500,000 bride price" quickly became a hot search after it was posted online.
For a time, the high-priced bride price once again became a hot topic of discussion.
Zhou Shihong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Anhui Lawyers Association, believes that high-priced betrothal gifts are alienating marriages into buying and selling and commercializing women. When promoting the reform of marriage customs, we must not only actively publicize, but also explore and establish a long-term mechanism to promote people to complete the transformation of ideas.”
Liu Junhai suggested that we should actively advocate a civilized and healthy concept of marriage, so that marriage can return to its essence.
At the same time, the local government should pay attention to it, organically combine government governance with mass self-governance, and positively guide the masses' view of marriage through the establishment of organizations such as the Customs Change Committee and the Red and White Council.
Sun Yuhua believes that in addition to the unbalanced gender ratio and the psychological comparison, the uneven distribution of resources between urban and rural areas is also an important reason for the high dowry in rural areas.
"Because resources are now concentrated in cities, girls also yearn for an urban lifestyle and have higher requirements for living standards after marriage. This also means that young men in rural areas need to go through more intense competition and offer higher prices. Dowry gift, can get married." Sun Yuhua said.
Sun Yuhua believes that all localities should seize the opportunity of rural revitalization and vigorously develop manufacturing in rural areas, which can not only improve the culture of farmers through economic development, but also help attract more women to work and start businesses, and reduce the serious imbalance in the ratio of men and women in rural areas.
"While developing the rural economy, combined with measures such as promoting equality between men and women and promoting the change of customs in the field of marriage, it will be conducive to forming a joint force to control high-priced betrothal gifts and achieve better results." Sun Yuhua said.