In recent years, the issue of Jiangxi's bride price has always been widely discussed. Jiangxi's ** bride price, mainly because of the fact that there are more men and fewer women and the outflow of the population, men have to increase the bride price when they marry their wives. As an important carrier of wedding etiquette, the bride price plays a role in screening marriage partners and restricting marriage and love behaviors, and conforms to the law of market development in a certain period of time. However, the rising amount of bride price greatly exceeds the reasonable range, increases the economic burden, lays hidden dangers for post-marital conflicts, and even leads to illegal behaviors。In this regard, it should be regulated and guided to cool down the bride price.
Why is the bride price high in Jiangxi?
In recent years, the topic of Jiangxi bride price has always appeared in the hot searches of major social platforms from time to time.
Jiangxi Province, which usually has a weak sense of existence, will be raised to the C position as soon as it encounters the topic of bride price.
Compared with the bride price across the country, the bride price in Jiangxi is indeed relatively high.
In 2020, more than 1,800 samples were surveyed across the country, and the results showed that Jiangxi Province ranked fourth in the country in terms of bride price, with an average amount of 1120,000 yuan, higher than the national average of 690,000 yuan.
Correspondingly, in 2021, the annual per capita disposable income of residents in Jiangxi Province will only be more than 30,000 yuan, and the per capita disposable income in rural areas will be less than 190,000 yuan.
The bride price of more than 100,000 yuan is a big burden for many rural families in Jiangxi.
In addition, the poorer the place in Jiangxi Province, the higher the bride price.
A survey found that the overall level of bride price and the level of economic development in Jiangxi are highly negatively correlated.
Taking the provincial capital city of Nanchang as an example, the average bride price in the urban area is about 1280,000-1880,000 yuan, the county bride price in Nanchang City is higher than 1880,000 yuan, while the rural bride price in some counties is higher, with a starting price of more than 200,000 yuan.
For the man's family, the financial pressure from the bride price is too great, and they even have to go into debt to make up the bride price. There have been banks that have launched posters to promote the so-called "bride price loan" "according to local conditions", which can lend up to 300,000 yuan.
Jiangxi bride price is high, what is the reason behind it?One of the core reasons is the imbalance in the gender ratio in Jiangxi.
The traditional Chinese clan concept is that men are responsible for passing on the lineage, and they also favor sons over daughters when it comes to raising children.
The family planning policy since the 80s of the 20th century has given many families a preference for having a boy. This preference for sex selection has led to an imbalance in the sex ratio in Jiangxi Province.
According to the sixth national census, the ratio of men to women in the post-90s population in Jiangxi Province has reached 1208 100, ranking first in the country. And this group happens to be the main group of people in the marriage market in recent years.
In fact, under family planning, many places have a preference for having boys, and the key reason for Jiangxi's high bride price is the difference in economic development.
Although Jiangxi's economy ranks in the middle of the country, there is still a gap with neighboring provinces.
Compared with eastern provinces such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Jiangxi has a low degree of industrializationCompared with coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Fujian, Jiangxi's foreign trade economy is underdeveloped.
Jiangxi Province has a low per capita income level compared to its neighboring provinces, which has also led to an exodus of people from Jiangxi Province.
According to the data of the seventh population census,The permanent population of Jiangxi Province is 451890,000 people, of which 6.34 million were outflows and 127 were inflows90,000 people.
On the one hand, there will be a considerable number of Jiangxi people who choose to work and live in economically developed areas, or even get married and settle down.
On the other hand, there are big differences between men and women who find a partner to get married. Rural women may marry in cities or provinces, but it is difficult for rural men to marry outside.
The asymmetrical migration of people further exacerbates the imbalance in the sex ratio within Jiangxi Province, especially in economically backward rural areas.
In this case, men will offer a high bride price to get a chance to get married, and women will dare to ask for a higher bride price because they have more advantages in the marriage market.
However, the sky-high bride price not only deviates from the original intention of the traditional marriage custom, but also departs from the essence of marriage, resulting in an unstable marriage relationship.
The reason for the existence of the bride price
Since 2019, the No. 1 document has taken the "sky-high bride price" as the object of rectification for four consecutive years.
Article 1042 of the Civil Code stipulates that "arranged marriages, buying and selling marriages and other acts that interfere with the freedom of marriage are prohibited." It is forbidden to solicit money or property under the pretext of marriage".
Although China prohibits the legal use of marriage to solicit property, there is no prohibition on the folk custom of bride price. In the actual marriage market, high bride prices are still maintained in some areas.
In fact, the bride price also has a certain positive significance for rural families in concrete practice.
From the perspective of the marriage contract, the exchange rules of the bride price can be regarded as a kind of civil institutional guarantee, which is to deal with the risks of the current marriage, and the marriage and love rules and marriage order are formed based on the bride price exchange rules.
First of all, the bride price plays a role in screening marriage partners in the early stage of preparing for marriage.
On the one hand, whether the bride price can be paid is a prerequisite for the woman to choose a partner, and the ability to pay the bride price is the entry threshold for the man to enter the blind date market.
On the other hand, in the process of matching, the bride price is a specific embodiment of the woman's worth, including appearance, education and family conditions, etc., the higher the bride price that the man is willing to pay, the higher the importance of the woman.
The process of proposing a bride price is actually a process in which the two families reach a matchIt is based on the reference value of both families in the marriage market, and symbolizes the economic strength and ethical norms that match the two families.
Of course, there may be a gap between the asking price and the actual amount paid.
The woman wants to ** to provide security for her daughter, and the man wants to gain a competitive advantage in the local marriage market.
Both families share the same goal, which is to hope that the offspring family can enter into marriage smoothly and maintain marital stability.
The reason why the man is willing to pay a high bride price is also because the bride price has a clear expectation.
Most of the time, the bride price will eventually become the start-up capital of the small family, providing a certain material basis for the newlyweds in the form of intergenerational support.
Secondly, the early payment of the bride price also helps to restrain marriage and love behavior, and constitutes a functional protection of the rights and interests of both men and women.
Some scholars have found that in rural Jiangxi, the engagement ceremony is often used as the time node, and the bride price will be transferred from the man's family to the woman's family, temporarily kept by the woman's parents, and returned to the small family after the two officially get married.
After the engagement, the man and the woman are recognized by society, which is called "legal cohabitation" by the locals, and the two parties can go out to work together, live together, and enhance their relationship.
At this stage, the bride price can protect the rights and interests of the woman, and in the event of consequences that are unfavorable to the woman, such as giving birth out of wedlock, the bride price kept by the woman's family can become an effective guarantee outside the law.
Since the bride price is temporarily in the hands of the father-in-law and mother-in-law, it can actually play a role in restraining the man's behavior and testing the man's character.
At the same time, the bride price can also protect the rights and interests of the man. According to local customs, the payment of the bride price by the man means that he has reached an agreement with the woman, can obtain the expectation of a stable relationship, and the woman's behavior is also regulated and restricted.
Engagement does not necessarily mean marriage, and the process of payment and withdrawal of the bride price actually forms a set of orderly marriage and love order.
High bride price is easy to cause social conflicts
The phenomenon of excessive high bride price is prone to some negative effects.
From an individual perspective, the marriage kidnapped by the bride price not only brings a heavy economic burden to some rural families, but also lays the fuse of contradictions and disputes between the two parties, which is not conducive to family harmony and stability.
From a social point of view, the blatant and clear price marking of the marriage behavior, and even the "talk about the bride price first, and then talk about the feelings", has contributed to the bad atmosphere of "putting on a show" in a few places.
High bride price demands can also lead to social injustice. Some people postpone marriage because they cannot afford the high costs, or choose not to marry, thus affecting the development of individuals and families.
Especially for marriageable young people, the high bride price further amplifies the anxiety of marriage and childbirth.
The Chinese New Year is approaching, and the peak period for couples to talk about bride price is also coming, and there are not a few couples who have an emotional crisis because of talking about bride price.
The woman cares about the amount of the bride price, and she cares more about the man's attitudeIt is often believed that expectations will not be met when it comes to the bride price, and that they may be treated poorly after marriage。The man needs to bear greater financial pressure for the high bride price, and he also wants to be more understanding.
For young people who are in free love, the high bride price limits their freedom to marry, and some young people may give up on marriage because they cannot afford the high costs.
In addition, high bride price is also easy to cause family conflicts after marriage, leading to illegal phenomena such as flash marriages and divorces, and buying and selling marriages in some places.
On the China Judgment Online, there are more than 6,000 legal disputes in Jiangxi about bride price, and some couples will even die because of the bride price.
In 2019, in Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province, a 25-year-old man spent more than 400,000 yuan, and his family was also burdened with huge debts, but his fiancée finally quit the marriage. The man was so angry that he stabbed his fiancée 70 times.
Some rural families are unable to pay the high bride price, so they pin their hopes on "buying a daughter-in-law". There are also some parents who force their daughters to marry early in order to make up the bride price for their sons, so that they can earn the bride price from their sons-in-law's families.
Jiangxi's bride price has been criticized, and another reason is the phenomenon of "the man's bride price is 300,000 yuan, and the woman returns 'three quilts'".
To put it simply, the man pays a high bride price, but the woman's dowry is almost or very meager.
Generally speaking, in order to pursue balance, after the man gives the bride price, the woman will return the corresponding dowry, and in recent years, due to high housing prices, the two families have bought a house together without asking for other contributions.
A survey found that except for the full amount of the bride price in individual townships and towns, the parents of the woman in most cities and counties in Jiangxi will return the bride price to the newlyweds as the start-up capital of the new family after receiving the bride price.
It's just that the proportion of the return is closely related to local customs, family conditions, parental concepts and other factors.
In a healthy marriage market, the bride price and dowry should be two families helping a new family, rather than one family helping another family to alleviate poverty.
In general, the collection of high bride prices will cause economic burdens on individuals and families, and treating marriage as a business is likely to lead to family conflicts, which in turn will lead to some illegal phenomena, which should be regulated and guided.
"Cool down" the high bride price
In China's traditional marriage customs, the woman's dowry and the man's bride price are originally reciprocal, and the marriage bride price can be regarded as the money paid by the man's family to the woman's family to compensate for the loss of labor.
However, the bride price has gone far beyond the scope of "marriage payment", and the significance of the bride price reflects more of the high profits brought about by the scarcity of women's resources.
In the marriage market, where there are more men than women, especially in economically backward areas and rural areas, the problem of male marriage squeeze has emergedThe bride price has gradually evolved into a competitive bargaining chip in the marriage market, coupled with the unrestrained comparison under the herd mentality, which has contributed to the rapid growth of the amount of marriage payments, and then form a vicious circle.
* The bride price distorts the essence of love and marriage, and destroys many beautiful marriages. Therefore, we must stop the bride price, create a healthy and civilized wedding environment, and let the bride price return to its beautiful meaning.
In the past five years, the civil affairs department has repeatedly made a combination of punches on the management of bride price.
At the level of national governance, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the "Guiding Opinions on Carrying out Pilot Work on the Reform of Marriage Customs", and successively launched two batches of a total of 32 national experimental areas for the reform of marriage customs.
At the level of local governance, effective measures such as the Red and White Council, village rules and conventions, public welfare matchmakers, premarital counseling, group weddings, and family commendations for "zero bride price" and "low bride price" have emerged one after another.
In May last year, Jiangxi Province promoted a group wedding with the theme of "no bride price, but happiness". According to statistics, last year, Jiangxi Province carried out more than 180 collective certificates, more than 100 collective weddings and new-style weddings, and provided 160,000 certificate issuance services.
This is a specific measure of the Women's Federation to organize and implement the province's three-year special campaign (2022-2024) to promote the change of customs and rural customs and civilization.
The special action in accordance with the "one year of initial results, two years of comprehensive improvement, three years of consolidation and promotion" roadmap to advance, the special action joint meeting by the Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department, the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, the Provincial Women's Federation and other 20 provincial departments and units, ** bride price is one of the important rectification issues.
Changing customs can completely break the vicious circle of exchanging women for daughters. In addition, it is necessary to cultivate the awareness of equality between men and women, improve the social security system, and completely solve the individual situation of using the best bride price to provide for the elderly.
To solve the problem of bride price, it is also necessary to break the ideological and conceptual barriers of the masses.
Relevant ** can strengthen publicity, positive guidance,Promote the concept of equal marriage by reporting on successful cases and the negative impact of high bride prices, such as financial burdens and unhappy marriages.
In addition, in response to external influences such as matchmakers and matchmakers raising the amount of bride price, it is urgent to accelerate the formulation of relevant industry norms and purify the marriage market. At the same time, we can explore forms such as public welfare marriage platforms to make up for the shortcomings of relevant public services and alleviate the problem of marriageable young people choosing a mate.
In fact, the phenomenon of bride price is not unique to Jiangxi Province, but when it comes to the discussion of the topic of bride price, Jiangxi often becomes one of the centers of the topic, and "bride price" has even become a label attached to Jiangxi people.
Such a label is not put on in a short period of time, and it cannot be removed overnight.
Fortunately, the whole province of Jiangxi Province is actively taking practical actions, including policy governance, guiding the masses, standardizing the industry and other measures, so that "low bride price" and "zero bride price" have gradually become the consensus of young people.