On January 13, Zhihu's official account "Zhihu Little Butler" issued an announcement stating that the Zhihu platform will permanently ban the accounts of users who posted "18.88 million sky-high betrothal gifts".

　　The following is the full text of the announcement:

　　Recently, the "18.88 million sky-high price gift" incident has aroused widespread concern inside and outside the site.

The little housekeeper checked it immediately, and the content came from an answer posted by an anonymous user on October 16, 2022.

This answer was revised by the poster as an apology statement on January 12, 2023, acknowledging the fabricated facts.

　　We further checked its past content and found that the user posted content under contradictory identities.

According to the "Zhihu Community Standards", the user's behavior of "fabricating false or misleading backgrounds and plots, deceiving and misleading others" has caused serious consequences, and the platform decided to permanently ban the user's account.

　　In Zhihu, countless friends share knowledge, experience and insights.

Users can express their cognition of the world in various ways, but we advocate that every answer comes from a kind heart.

　　Zhihu will always stick to the bottom line of the platform, and will never condone malicious editing.

At the same time, we also call on our friends to share sincerely, interact rationally, and not actively spread unproven content.

In case of content with doubtful authenticity, friends are welcome to actively provide clues through the "report" channel, and jointly maintain a professional and friendly community ecology.

previously reported

　　Recently, a netizen posted an article claiming that his girlfriend’s family in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province asked for a “18.88 million betrothal gift”. When the discussion of the “sky-high price betrothal gift” was triggered, people also questioned the authenticity of the content posted by the netizen.

　　According to The Paper, previously, a user on Zhihu asked, "What do you think of the girls in Jiangxi?" The answer to this question sparked discussions on the topic of sky-high price gifts in Pingxiang, Jiangxi.

In this answer, an anonymous user claimed to be an "indigenous" middle class in Shanghai. When he was studying in the United States, he met and fell in love with a female student from Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province, and finally broke up because of the wedding gift.

screenshot of post

　　The anonymous user said that his ex-girlfriend's parents asked him for a sky-high price of 18.88 million yuan, transfer of tens of millions of real estate properties to the woman's name, and hundreds of relatives of the woman each giving 100,000 yuan in red envelopes, which he could not accept.

　　The post quickly triggered discussions about the "sky-high price gift", and some netizens questioned the authenticity of the post.

The post was subsequently deleted on Zhihu.

Pingxiang City Official Response

　　On January 12, a staff member of the Comprehensive Business Section of the Pingxiang Civil Affairs Bureau told The Paper that the leaders of the Civil Affairs Bureau were having a meeting in the morning to discuss the matter and would soon publish a report on the matter on the Jiangxi Portal official website.

As for whether the things described in the online post are true, the staff member did not disclose more information.

　　In addition, according to the Beijing News emergency call reporter, I learned from Pingxiang City officials that the content reflected in the online post has been distributed to relevant departments to intervene for verification.

A person involved in the investigation of the incident said that based on the verification of the entry and exit situation, it was preliminarily judged that the content of the article was fabricated, and the local bride price was very few.

The person who posted the statement issued an apology

　　On the evening of January 12, an “anonymous user” of Zhihu who suspected of publishing the article “18.88 million beauties” issued an apology statement under Zhihu’s original topic “What do you think of girls in Jiangxi”.

　　The statement stated that he browsed many answers to the question "What do you think of girls in Jiangxi" on Zhihu on October 15, and felt that everyone was very concerned about the topic of bride price.

So I used an anonymous account to fabricate a complete story about a young man in Shanghai who was asked for a sky-high betrothal gift, and combined conflicting elements from many netizens' posts, in order to understand everyone's views on the betrothal gift issue.

This post was published on Zhihu on October 16. After many discussions and interactions with netizens, I deleted the original post on October 23.

Since my negligence did not take into account the sudden increase in online attention, I would like to apologize to all netizens, especially to the local government of Pingxiang, Jiangxi.

　　The editing time of this post is 20:54 on January 12, 2023, and the IP affiliation is displayed as Shanghai.

　　In response to the "anonymous user"'s apology, some netizens said, "There is no need to apologize to the netizens and the Jiangxi government, but to the unmarried women in Jiangxi." Some netizens were puzzled, "This kind of rumor has spread widely and has a major negative impact on local women. Behavior, do you need to take legal responsibility?" Some netizens also questioned the authenticity of the platform's anonymous apology.

Pingxiang, Jiangxi, previously launched a campaign to rectify high-priced betrothal gifts

　　According to news from the website of Pingxiang City Government in Jiangxi Province on May 16, 2022, six departments including the Pingxiang Civil Affairs Bureau issued the "Implementation Plan on Curbing High-Price Betrothal Gifts and Promoting Marriage to Change Customs", requiring that high-priced betrothal gifts be carried out according to local conditions. It is recommended that the betrothal gift should not exceed 30,000 yuan .

　　The plan requires strengthening the construction of autonomous organizations such as village (neighborhood) committees, red and white councils, and moral councils, guiding village (neighborhood) committees to formulate or revise village rules and regulations (resident conventions) in accordance with laws and regulations, and highlighting the need to change customs for marriage. Pertinence, restraint and operability, support the quantification of wedding matters such as wedding dowry, accompanying gifts, scale of wedding banquet and number of wedding cars.

Explore the establishment of a reporting system for receiving and paying wedding gifts, organizing weddings and funerals, and strengthen the supervision of the whole process.

　　China News Service (CNS1952) synthesized from: Zhihu official account, The Paper, Beijing Daily, Qianjiang Evening News, CCTV, etc.

　　Editor: Ding Baoxiu

　　Editor in charge: Peng Dawei

　　(WeChat public account of China News Service)