Betrothal gifts becoming pricey

A survey by Jiayuan.com found a huge gap between the price of betrothal gifts — a deeply-rooted tradition, especially in rural regions — that the bride’s family expects and the bridegroom’s family is willing to pay.

Apart from preparing a wedding apartment and wedding feast, the bridegroom’s parents need to give money as betrothal gifts to the bride’s parents.

The survey found that the average price the man’s family is willing to pay is 46,377 yuan ($6,700) while the woman’s family expects nearly 70,000 yuan.

Social experts said that the main reason that women’s parents are asking for more money is the scarcity of women of marriageable age in rural regions.

“Because of the preference of boys in rural areas, the gender ratio at birth is nearly 120 to 100, and moreover, some women marry men in cities,” said Zhou Haiwang, deputy director of the Institute of Population and Development at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

But some people think betrothal gifts are an important sign of respect to the bride.

“The bride’s parents won’t witness how much their sonin-law loves their daughter in everyday life, but the money is a way for the groom’s family to show how much they like the daughter-in-law,” said Guo Benfang, mother of a 22-year-old single woman in Shouxian county, Anhui province.