There are many ways for young people in China to become millionaires. An 18-year-old girl in China’s eastern province of Fujian recently received 2.88 million yuan (about 400,000 US dollars) as a betrothal gift for her engagement - she will get married when she turns 20. 

Giving a bride price and dowry has a long history in China as a goodwill gesture between the two families, but the nature of giving has changed a lot and is often a financial burden.

In the 1970s, Chinese families treated a bike, a watch and a sewing machine as precious wedding gifts; in the 1980s, a refrigerator, a color TV and a washing machine would often make a wife-to-be satisfied; but nowadays, it is much harder to impress the bride’s side of family.

The pressure on those getting married in rural areas has intensified during the past few years, according to a report by People’s Daily. The average bride price now in Beijing’s neighboring province of Hebei has increased by two to five times compared with 2013, with the bride’s family usually asking for at least 100,000 yuan (around 14,500 US dollars) in cash, an apartment and a car.  

An extreme case occurred in China’s central Henan Province in January this year, when a groom killed his wife on their wedding night. The tragedy was caused by a quarrel over the 110,000 yuan (about 16,000 US dollars) bride price, which placed the man’s family in serious debt.

“The poorer the place, the higher the bride price” applies to provinces including Henan, Shandong, Guizhou, Shaanxi and Gansu. In more developed regions and cities, a sign of progress is seen as bride-price no longer being compulsory. In cities like Wuhan and Chongqing along the Yangtze River, the girl’s parents will either give the money to the newly-wed couple, or return a same-value dowry to the male’s family. While in Beijing and Shanghai, the two families may pay for an apartment together.   

Experts believe the root cause of “sky-high bride token” lies partially in gender imbalance in China. According to the latest data from the National Statistics Bureau, as many as 30 million men will be left single by 2020 due to a widening gender ratio at birth in the last decades.

Cui Shuyi, director of Population Studies with Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, said such customs should be reined in. “When bride price has become a way to make money, there is no difference to mercenary marriage. More and more poor families cannot afford to get married, or better-off families plunge back into poverty in order to get married. ”

Last year, Chinese authorities unveiled guidelines to promote frugal weddings, and criticized expensive bride prices. But Professor Zhu Xinkai with the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at Renmin University of China said this is far from enough.

“The problem has a variety of reasons, including gender imbalance, rising costs, and lack of social warfare, it requires comprehensive implementation of policies.”