Home>News Center>Life
         
 

Young Chinese couples extravagant on weddings
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-19 09:22

Modern Chinese couples spend 1,000 times more than their parents' generation on lavish weddings and other expenses linked to starting a family, state media reported.


Wedding dresses are displayed at a wedding fair in Shanghai, July 2004. Modern Chinese couples spend 1,000 times more than their parents' generation on lavish weddings and other expenses linked to starting a family, state media reported. [AFP]

Twenty-five years ago, the shopping list of young couples planning to get married consisted of a wardrobe, bed and bedding, some candy and cigarettes, Xinhua news agency said.

Their children are much more demanding and easily spend 200,000 yuan (24,000 dollars), equivalent to the life savings of the previous generation, it said, citing a survey from northern Tianjin city.

The splash begins at the wedding, when they hire professional toastmasters and rent long lines of chauffeur-driven limousines, buy expensive jewelry and clothes, and fly off on costly honeymoons, Xinhua said.

When they return, they pay an average 115,000 yuan (14,000 dollars) in down payment for an apartment, and go on to spend thousands of dollars more on TVs, air conditioners and electric appliances, according to the agency.

Xinhua linked the spending habits of young Chinese to the emergence of the "one-child generation," the result of the country's policy of allowing each couple in the cities only one child to reduce population growth.

The members of this generation are used to getting what they want and have experienced little of the austerity seen by earlier generations who grew up in huge families with numerous siblings.
 



China braces for first Miss Plastic Surgery
The premiere of "Kung Fu Hustle"
Miss World back home
  Today's Top News     Top Life News
 

China prepares to enact law against secession

 

   
 

Rules issued to govern religious affairs

 

   
 

EU hints to lift China arms ban in June

 

   
 

Top judge vows to improve judicial capacity

 

   
 

GM charges Chery for alleged mini car piracy

 

   
 

Beijing to seek investors for metro lines

 

   
  Young Chinese couples extravagant on weddings
   
  There she is...China's Miss Plastic Surgery
   
  China offers free pre-marital medical check
   
  Hitler was a tax dodger, researcher finds
   
  Harrison Ford may lead charge in Falluja movie
   
  Eat 'supermeals' to protect heart: experts
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Couple sues over halted wedding
   
Wedding revolution sweeps nation
   
Underwater wedding ceremony
   
Wedding unites 52 couples
   
Danish Prince to divorce wife
   
Wedding firms look to Japanese
   
Indian tycoon hosts lavish wedding
  Feature  
  Chen Ning Yang, 82, to marry a 28-year-old woman  
Advertisement