HONG KONG - Chinese people are traditionally willing to spend lavishly on
weddings and, as their incomes have grown as never before, their nuptial
expenses have also swollen proportionally. As a result, China's wedding-service
industry is emerging as a significant and growing economic sector.
The most outwardly visible symbols of the burgeoning industry are the countless
photography studios and wedding-clothing rental
outlets throughout every urban area. Depending on their incomes, tastes and
egos, a loving couple can spend anywhere from about 1,200 yuan (US$160) to more
than 5,000 yuan on photographs, frames, posters and photo books while posing in
wedding and costume attire that ranges from traditional Chinese and Western, to
Japanese and even knockoffs resembling the 18th-century court finery of Louis
XVI and Marie Antoinette of France.
According to a recent survey on mainland China's wedding industry conducted by
the Ministry of Commerce and China Wedding Expo, a typical urban couple spend
an average of 126,600 yuan on their wedding - expenses that don't include
housing or a car.
The survey covered 3.73 million couples, and was the first to examine how the
marriage industry contributes to the country's overall economy.
A top-end couple spends an average of 3,879.52 yuan on photographs, 6,052.53
yuan on jewelry, 1,891.37 yuan for a rental wedding gown and tux, 7,961.46 yuan
for wedding arrangements, 73,101.26 yuan on home decorations and furniture,
10,823.37 yuan for the honeymoon and 17,504.45 yuan on home appliances. And the
couple's wedding banquet has 20 tables at 1,014 yuan apiece.
The total is a whopping 141,500 yuan (nearly $19,000), though the survey said
most couples are a bit more frugal, averaging 126,600 yuan for the wedding.
The survey found that direct wedding costs poured 1.54 trillion yuan into the
market in 2006. If the trickle-down factor is accounted for (an estimated 1.2
trillion yuan), the survey found, the wedding industry covers about 76
businesses both directly and indirectly, and the total turnover of 2.74
trillion yuan accounted for 13.36% of China's 21.09 trillion yuan gross
domestic product in 2006.
The biggest spenders were in the larger cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and
Guangzhou, where couples held more Western-style nuptials such as an outdoor
ceremony in a park.
In fact, the average price of a Shanghai wedding (187,000 yuan) was close to
what loving couples spent to get hitched in the United States last year.
According to a survey of 1,619 brides conducted for the American Wedding Study
2006, the average cost of a US wedding was $27,852 (215,850 yuan) in 2006,
United Press International reported.
Industry experts said the wedding costs were boosted in China in recent years
because wedding-related industries cashed in on the Chinese zodiac's
"auspicious" lunar years for marriage and making babies.
"The Year of the Dog plus the lunar calendar's 'double spring' in 2006 made it
a good year for marriage," said Zhou Quanbin, a former marketing manager for a
Guangzhou wedding-service company in Guangdong province. "The Year of the Pig,
2007, is a good year to have a baby, so the number of people who are marrying
increase, creating more business opportunities for us."
Xia Xueluan, a professor with the social studies department of Peking
University, attributed the lavish spending to peer pressure and newly wealthy
young couples wanting to one-up their friends and colleagues.
"Besides higher living standards, the main reason for higher wedding costs [is]
showing off," he said.
There are exceptions. An administrative staffer at a Guangzhou art institute,
Wilson Fu (not his real name), and his longtime girlfriend tied the knot
recently for only 30,000 yuan. The costs included two modest banquet tables for
about 1,500 yuan apiece to feed their parents and relatives.
"Some parents are very traditional and ask their children for a big wedding
banquet," Fu said. "But ours are open-minded and understood that it would have
taken at least six months and a lot more money to prepare something like that."
Their nod to tradition was to register their marriage on September 13, a day
that was considered particularly lucky for marriages. Their biggest expense was
the honeymoon, which Fu said would cost them between 12,000 and 15,000 yuan.
In contrast, however, Yu Linsheng, a 69-year-old retiree, said he only spent 2
yuan on his wedding in 1963 and that was to cover the registration cost.
"We had no wedding banquets, no home decorations, no new clothes," Yu said. He
said he earned 30 yuan a month at the time working in a small-town movie
theater in Guangdong province. His marriage lasted until 2001when his wife
died.
As time flies, the prices of weddings might change. However, one thing in a
marriage that does not change is that couples need to work hard on a new
relationship after the wedding.
Olivia Chung is a senior Asia Times Online reporter.
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