China will introduce new regulations on bride price.

Báo Văn Hóa•27/12/2023

The amount of dowry the groom must pay to the bride's family at a wedding ceremony. (Photo: PAPER)

This draft, introduced in mid-December, follows hundreds of thousands of disputes over the return of dowry money that have occurred across China for decades. The draft explicitly states, "It is strictly prohibited to use marriage as a pretext to extort property," and also states, "If one party takes property through marriage under the guise of dowry and the other party demands its return, the People's Court should provide assistance." The core spirit of the typical cases cited and the draft for public comment can be understood as follows: Whether or not to return the dowry money depends on its actual use in married life and whether it affects the outcome of the marriage contract.

Bride price is very common in China. It refers to the amount of money or gifts in kind, such as jewelry, cars, or houses, that the groom must give to the bride's family before the wedding. This custom is becoming distorted, with the "bride price" skyrocketing in recent years. Excessively high bride prices are also one of the causes of conflict and marital breakdown, especially in rural areas.

The Jilin Provincial High People's Court recently announced the verdict in a dowry dispute between Mr. Wang and Ms. An. The ruling stated that after nearly a year of dating, in December 2016, the two decided to get married. Wang gave Ms. An's family 100,000 yuan (over 320 million VND) as a dowry. Because Ms. An was not yet of legal marriage age (20 years old), they only held a wedding ceremony on January 1, 2017, but did not register their marriage. On May 26, 2017, Ms. An gave birth to a son. They lived together until early 2020, then separated due to marital discord. Throughout these three years of cohabitation, they did not register their marriage. During the separation period, the boy lived with his father. In October 2020, Wang filed a lawsuit demanding that Ms. An return the 100,000 yuan dowry. The lower court ruled that the dowry (also known as the "bride price" in some places) is money the groom's family pays to the bride's family during the engagement, with the intention of marriage. Since the two parties had not yet completed the marriage registration procedures, the court ruled in favor of Wang's claim for the return of the dowry. An disagreed and appealed to the Jilin Provincial High Court.

Not long ago, in Shanxi, there was also a story circulating about a man born in 1980 who met his girlfriend through a dating app. After dating for eight months, they planned to get married. The man had to pay the girl's family a dowry of 188,000 yuan (RMB) as requested. The man said, "The 188,000 RMB dowry is normal in this area. We call it the 'big package.' Of that 188,000 RMB, I only had 168,000 RMB saved and I borrowed an additional 20,000 RMB from friends." Unexpectedly, before the wedding, the girl's family demanded another 30,000 RMB. The man said, "I don't have any more money to give; I had to borrow money from others." Later, the two argued about the matter, and the man canceled the engagement, demanding the return of his 188,000 yuan dowry. This incident attracted the attention of the local people, and many netizens expressed support for the man's decision.

Ye Mingyi, a professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics specializing in family law, told Sixth Tone : “The new judicial interpretation is not only more flexible but also more scientific and appropriate.”

According to new regulations, Chinese courts should not focus solely on whether a couple is legally married when resolving disputes, but should conduct a more comprehensive assessment of the dowry amount, the length of cohabitation, how the dowry was used, and whether they have children. Currently, courts support requests for the return of dowry if one of three conditions is met: the couple is not legally married; they are legally married but not living together; or the dowry "causes hardship" for the groom's life. Ye Mingyi argues that the current court approach is too simplistic and unreasonable, as many couples in real life can live together for years without registering their marriage, while many registered couples only live together for a short period.

Another challenge in resolving disputes over bride price is that different regions have their own customs and practices. Research on bride price disputes in 2022 showed that bride price demands in China are often 3-10 times the annual income of the person giving the dowry. On China Judgements Online – an official database of court rulings – there are over 140,000 cases involving disputes over the return of bride price money.

THAI AN

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