Suicide threatened over betrothal gifts

A 23- year- old man from the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou threatened to jump from a residential building after his parents refused to give him 200,000 yuan as a betrothal gift, fearing his fiancee was a swindler. The man, surnamed Wang, met the woman, surnamed Liu, from Baoding, Hebei province, online in late 2014. Although they had met in person just a few times, Wang had given Liu a significant amount of money for various reasons, including her brother’s marriage, her grandparents’ funerals, a pregnancy and a miscarriage. Suspecting Liu was a swindler, Wang’s parents did not want to give him the betrothal money. Police prevented Wang from jumping.