China’s provinces offer to subsidize weddings to raise number of marriages

Beijing. February 2. Silkroadnews - China’s provinces offer to subsidize weddings to encourage growth in number of marriages, the newspaper Global Times informs.
“Local governments in China are so concerned about their declining marriage rates that they’re even planning to subsidize ceremonies and honeymoons,” the report reads.
Officials in Shanxi Province in North China have reserved about 95 million yuan ($15 million) in cash incentives for marriages over the next year.
The subsidies, as noted, include the costs related to wedding, honeymoon and even the purchase of household appliances. In addition, among the planned incentives there is also a subsidy for purchase of gold jewelry of 3 yuan per gram.
Tong Hui, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Guizhou Provincial Committee, cited data from a local dating website, saying that out of its 1.5 million users, 63.9% were were of late marriage age, the report said.
At the same time a recent government survey that Guizhou governments carried out among unmarried people shows, 78% of respondents said they were satisfied with being single.
According to Wang Guangzhou, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the number of single Chinese men aged 35 to 59 will reach 15 million in 2020 and 30 million in 2050.