China Debuts Matchmaker Training to Curb ‘Surging Bride Prices’ Fueled by One-Child Policy

A local government in China has embarked on an effort to train rural matchmakers to restrict “surging bride prices” fueling “mercenary marriages,”  which involve families marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder to pay for their son’s dowry, the state-run Global Times reported this week.

“Betrothal money is a traditional prerequisite for marriage, especially in rural China,” the outlet noted on Tuesday, later adding, “Hard cash is expected, and for many families, a car and an apartment have become a must. The tradition has now strayed away from its original purpose and left many rural families facing financial ruin.”

The Global Times reported that the government of the Yujiang district in Yingtan, located in east China’s Jiangxi province, launched the training program “in a bid to cool staggering bride prices in recent years,” noting that “rural matchmakers are believed to be one of the reasons behind the surge, as they get a commission from the price.”

The news outlet added:

In April, the Yujiang district government and the local women’s federation and the justice bureau jointly established the first matchmaker training class, aiming to curb the practice of imposing high bride prices through correcting the values of matchmakers and to ensure matchmakers play a healthier role in the marriage process.

Yang Zanmei, the president of the regions’ women’s federation, indicated told the Global Times that the rising bride prices are creating problems for rural girls.

“Girls with younger brothers are likely to become victims of mercenary marriages from their families seeking to raise money for their sons by requiring high bride prices from her parents-in-law, Yang said,” according to the Global Times. 

The one-child policy, which ended in recent years, reportedly exacerbated the problem. Many traditional Chinese families favor having boys over girls.

“Gender imbalance in countryside seen as a major factor behind” rising bride prices, the news outlet said.

Citing 2018 figures from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the Global Times pointed out that “China has 713.51 million males and 681.87 million females, or 31.64 million more males than females.”

The article came days after Voice of America (VOA) reported that human traffickers from Pakistan and China are prostituting hundreds of predominantly Christian new wives sold to Chinese men by impoverished relatives in Pakistan under pretenses that they will live out better lives.

A Pakistani law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described to the Associated Press (AP) the practice involving families seeking to make money by selling off their daughters as human trafficking.

In February, the Communist Party of China reportedly mandated that local governments curb “indecent rural marriage social customs and sky-high bride prices.”

The move will “help promote the practice of socialist core values in villages and guide rural residents to improve themselves, the ruling communist party reportedly argued.

Yang Zanmei, president of the women’s federation in Yujiang, told the Global Times that the price of betrothal gifts in China range from 100,000 ($14,535) yuan to 400,000 yuan ($58,140), with an average of 250,000 ($36,335) yuan.

The prices, which amounts to a local farmers income over 21 years, have nearly double that of five years ago, Zanmei indicated.