Unbelievable! Guess Which province has the highest bride price

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With China's economic boom over the last decades, the “bride price”, also called betrothal gifts, have bumped up to hundreds of thousands of yuan, sometimes even millions, a ridiculous amount that most men can’t even imagine raising.

In 2020, a map of bride prices in China was released.

The highest bride price can be found in Jiangxi province, the average price for a bride was around 380000 yuan.

It showed that in cities like Shanghai, the average price for a bride was around 180000 yuan.

The lowest is the northwest places in China, which is 10000 yuan.

And keep in mind that this is just a sum paid to the family of the bride, the wedding itself involves separate expenditures.

The bride price is an old Chinese tradition. And not being able to foot the bill often times has dire consequences. 

However, many new generation younger people don’t care too much about the price now as long as they find true love.

The bride price is similar to the Western tradition of dowry but contrasts in that the prospective groom is required to pay the family of the bride for permission to marry her. 

During the 80’s television sets and refrigerators were popular gifts offered as bride prices, but since the economy started to grow, the payment switched to hard cash and jewelry. The sums demanded by the family of the bride have been rising ever since.

The situation and usage of bride price are different:

1. The bride price is just a formality

The groom gives the bride price, and the bride's family gives a portion of the dowry.

In the traditional way, this practice is only for show.

With the monetary exchange, the money will return to both families. This practice is more favorable because it takes the financial burden from each family.

2. The bride price is used to help the wife's family.

The groom gives the bride price to the bride's parents as a form of financial help.

3.It is as savings for the new husband and wife to start their family life.

The couple keeps the money for their own daily use.

What do you think?

Share your story with us if you married a Chinese wife.

Editor: Crystal H-AD

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