China has posted its lowest number of marriages (6.83 million) since recording the figure in 1986, raising questions about its population control methods and broader trends among couples.
According to CNN, the country’s Ministry of Civil Affairs data revealed marriages had dropped by about 10.5% from 2021 to 2022. The previous record low was in 2021, at 7.63 million marriage registrations – a significant drop from 2013’s peak of more than 13 million marriages.
Government data also showed that divorces fell to 2.1 million after peaking in 2019, the Guardian reported. The CCP has addressed divorce by introducing a 30-day cooling-off period.
The data came as China’s population shrank for the first time in 2022, and authorities tried to incentivize childbearing after years of limiting how many babies a family could have.
The communist regime eventually relaxed its one-child policy to two and currently only allows up to three children per family — though many adults seem uneager to have children. Its birthing restrictions have resulted in mass dehumanization through forced abortion. The country’s draconian policies have even created an entire sub-class of residents known as “heihaizi,” who do not have official documentation because they were born outside of the country’s birth limit.
Part of the reported reasons for lower marriage rates are the high prices, dubbed “caili,” which men are expected to pay women’s families for taking their daughters as brides. According to The New York Times, the prices may exceed $50,000. Officials have reportedly worried about the impact of high prices with some intervening in price negotiations and, in at least one town, imposing caps on the cost.
In March, the outlet highlighted an event in the town of Daijiapu where women were gathered to sign a pledge to reject high bride prices.
Chinese University of Hong Kong sociology professor Yuying Tong said the caili system “has broken many families.” She said that “parents spend all their money and go financially bankrupt just to find a wife for their son.”
The Times added:
The tradition is also linked to entrenched attitudes about the role of women as caregivers in families. In parts of rural China, the payment is still seen as a purchase of the bride’s labor and fertility from her parents, researchers say. Once married, the woman has typically been expected to move in with her husband’s family, get pregnant and be responsible for housework, child raising and the care of her in-laws.
But as the soaring cost of living has exposed gaps in China’s social safety net, securing a high marriage payment can be a way for lower-income families with daughters to build savings for unexpected medical bills or other emergencies. And with parents living longer, some women are demanding higher prices as reimbursement for being the primary caregivers of the older generation, researchers say.
The outlet indicated that higher prices could be fed by a lopsided gender ratio that resulted from the country’s one-child policy. Rural areas, for example, reportedly have 19 million more men than women.
As Live Action News previously reported, the Chinese government has considered fertility support, including in-vitro fertilization for single women.
Reuters highlighted the case of a Sichuan woman named Chen Luojin who is considering IVF as her province of Chengdu (capital of the southwestern Sichuan province) legalized registration of children born to unmarried mothers in February. It’s unclear how other provinces will follow. However, the Chinese Communist Party reportedly is already considering supporting IVF and other fertility treatments through its national insurance policy for the entire nation, to address record-low birth rates.
Editor’s Note 7/1/23: This article was updated to reflect the current three child policy in China.
