Marriage in China: the Supreme People's Court tightens the screws on dowry
Encourage marriages and above all limit disappointments during new unions.
The Supreme People's Court in China has just published new regulations governing the question of the dowry that the future groom's family must pay to that of his future wife in certain regions.
Civil registry office in Beijing, China, January 19, 2024. © RFI - Stéphane Lagarde
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With our correspondent in Beijing,
Stéphane Lagarde
The new provisions
will come into force on February 1, but they are already being widely discussed before a civil affairs office in Beijing.
In the Chinese capital, as in most megacities, young people and the elderly are rather in favor of limiting or even abolishing the dowry.
Madame Zhang and Madame Zhou, two friends, one of whom married her daughter, testify.
“
Bride price should no longer exist.
In my time, we didn't ask for nice clothes.
We each brought our salary and started a family
,” says Ms. Zhang.
“
Bride price should no longer exist.
In my time, we didn't ask for nice clothes.
We each brought our own salary and started a family
,” continues Madame Zhou.
Over-indebtedness and lawsuits
This is particularly the case for these two future newlyweds who wait in the parking lot, warm in their German car, before going to sign their commitment.
“
This custom must be abolished, it will be fairer for everyone,”
believes Zhang Minglou
.
If at every wedding, the groom's family finds itself on the verge of bankruptcy, it is truly a feudal tradition
.
In its new regulations, the Supreme People's Court establishes the restitution of the dowry in certain disputed cases.
“
The number of cases involving betrothal gifts is increasing,”
the official statement said, “
and there are even vicious criminal cases caused by the return of betrothal gifts.
»
Some brides' families, particularly in poor regions in the south of the country, have to take out loans that they can hardly repay to pay for engagement gifts.
According to the authorities, the volume of these wedding gifts increased again last year, as did the lawsuits that are sometimes associated with them.
But in Beijing, homeowner parents don't need money.
Avoiding divorces
A young bride in a red silk dress, as tradition dictates, did not ask anything from her companion's family.
For what ?
“
Actually, there's no real reason, but as we both have incomes, we didn't want to put our marriage up for negotiation and risk a long impasse
.”
After having established a period of “reflection” before
divorces
, the authorities hope that the new regulation on dowry will avoid too rapid disunions in a country where the birth rate fell again last year.
In front of the entrance to the civil status office, blocks of stone in which the letters forming the word "
love
e" are cut, followed by the numbers "
1 - 3 -1 - 4
" which, in Mandarin, are pronounced almost like “
for life
”.
A way to ward off fate, while the civil affairs building is stuck between a canal, the train tracks and the expressways of the second ring road.
A place of intersections, but also of separation.
“
It's all very beautiful, but here, we also come to confirm breakups
,” says a thirty-year-old who sets off at a run, as quickly as he arrived.
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