As a couple gets ready to tie the knot in rural China, many look forward to an extravagant ceremony, the glitz and glam of diamonds and gifts, and a nice home to settle down. While the bride's family sits back and enjoys the show, the groom's family is expected to shell out big bucks to materialize the marriage till it is financially ruined in the name of upholding customs. As part of civility reforms in rural areas, the Chinese authorities have introduced new guidelines to tackle this problem. 

Although it is said that money is no object, yet it plays a lofty role in Chinese weddings. Many families of brides, especially those in China's rural areas, demand everything from cash and jewelry to cars and even houses from the groom. The expenses, often more than 10 times of what the groom's family can provide, push families against the wall, while putting pressure on unmarried males.

Han Jun, deputy director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, said that many villagers do not want to follow the old customs of arranging extravagant weddings, but they are trapped under societal pressure, which is hard for them to escape.

Villages usually have small but tightly-knit social circles, wherein it is common to come across each other everyday. In such a social setting, it gets very difficult to escape the norms, especially the ones endorsed by local influentials.

In order to reform such norms and provide relief to ordinary citizens, new guidelines call for rural grassroots organizations to amend village rules and regulations, limiting extravagant expenses.

In a case of enforcement of these guidelines, last December in Qinghai Province, where marriage costs can reach more than 100,000 yuan in rural areas, local authorities set a maximum limit of 60,000. 

In a bid to encourage more villagers to get involved in this process of reform, the authorities plan to provide incentives and awards for families and individuals who take the first steps in this direction.