China News Service, Beijing, July 27th (Wei Xianghui) Recently, "Henan started the reform of marriage customs" has become a hot search entry, causing netizens to pay attention and discuss.
In fact, many places have been promoting the pilot work of marriage customs reform before, and many areas have ushered in new changes in marriage customs issues such as "bringing gifts" and "marriage troubles".
Data map: Photo by China News Agency reporter Lv Ming
Henan confirms 20 places as experimental areas for marriage customs reform
On the 25th, the Henan Provincial Government website announced that recently, after local declarations, investigations, and comprehensive evaluations, the Provincial Civil Affairs Department agreed to identify 20 regions including Kaifeng City as the province's marriage customs reform experimental areas.
A person in charge of the Marriage Registration Office of the Hubin District Civil Affairs Bureau of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province told Chinanews that the relevant departments of the city and district are currently studying the documents, visiting and investigating, and actively promoting the reform work.
She mentioned that now the phenomenon of big weddings has changed.
"Reducing the bride price, going to the marriage trouble, I agree with both hands and feet", a netizen left a message in the comment area.
An online questionnaire with more than 1,800 participants showed that the average Chinese betrothal gift in 2020 was 69,000 yuan.
Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia have more than 100,000 yuan in betrothal gifts.
Some netizens said that the dowry is a matter of heart and should be done according to one's ability. Some netizens believe that canceling the bride's dowry should also cancel the bride's dowry to reduce the burden on both men and women.
In addition, some netizens suggested to cancel such behaviors as marriage troubles and marriage cars.
A netizen mentioned that "marriage troubles are really not funny. It's uncomfortable to make trouble with brides and relatives." In some places, actions such as picking up clothes and throwing things even violated the bottom line of the law.
Many "broken hearts" for marriage
In 2021, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has successively launched two batches of national marriage customs reform experimental zones.
Many places have begun to try to explore new fashions of marriage customs, including setting the upper limit of the bride price, recruiting specially invited certificate issuers, and holding group weddings.
According to "Dahe Daily", in April 2021, Ningling County, Henan Province established a leading group for the reform of wedding and funeral customs, with the county party secretary as the group leader. Yuan, the red event does not exceed 350 yuan per table.
The community red and white council of Yuwangtai District, Kaifeng City is attended by the secretary of the community party branch, the community director, and people with high morals, enthusiastic service, fairness and justice, and the secretary of the community party branch can also serve as the chairman.
"Specially invited certificate issuers" and "collective weddings" have also become exploratory measures for the reform of marriage customs in various places, and many young party members and cadres have participated in them.
In May of this year, the Civil Affairs Bureau of Yanchi County, Ningxia issued a notice on the "Pilot Work Plan for the Reform of Marriage Customs in Yanchi County", which invited deputies to the National People's Congress, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and sages from villages and villages to issue certificates to newcomers.
In July, the Civil Affairs Bureau of Chongchuan District, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province recruited specially invited certificate issuers for marriage registration from the society, and asked them to issue certificates for newlyweds on major festivals or days with special commemorative significance.
In the above-mentioned notice of Yanchi County, a new type of collective wedding is advocated, and it is required to organize no less than two times a year.
In 2021, the Marriage Registration Office of Dazu District, Chongqing estimated that since the start of the marriage customs reform experiment, about one-fifth of party members, cadres and newlyweds have participated in collective weddings.
Expert: The reform of marriage customs should start from the grassroots level
Dong Yuzheng, director of the Guangdong Population Development Research Institute, said in an interview with Chinanews.com that marriage based on pure feelings between men and women has gradually become a bargaining transaction, which has impacted people's marriage values.
This is also the reason why the reform of marriage customs can attract widespread attention.
Wang Conghu, a professor at the National Institute of Development and Strategy of Renmin University of China and the School of Public Administration, analyzed to Chinanews.com that the phenomenon of "astronomical betrothal gifts" appears. The lack of confidence is related to the fact that some people are driven by comparisons.
Wang Conghu believes that the reform of marriage customs should mainly start from the grass-roots level, strengthen the organizational management role of village committees, communities and other units, and subtly carry out "change customs".
In addition, in terms of publicity, TV dramas, movies and other literary and artistic works can also be used to correctly guide social concepts and establish a new fashion of civilized marriage customs.
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