When we come to the 1980s it could have been a television or a refrigerator. “Later on it became furniture, then a radio or a watch. “It was there in the 1950s, 60s, 70s… In that time the bride price could be a thermos flask, or bedding,” she told BBC. Manya Koetse, China expert and editor of What’s on Weibo, in a BBC report stated that it’s a centuries-old tradition and has lived on even through the Communist era. The People’s Republic of China government forbade it, but it came back into practice in the late 1970s. The tradition of paying bride price continued into the era of Republic of China (1912 – 1949) and even persisted until the 1960s.

It has been one of the most important marriage customs in ancient China since the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC to 771 BC). Sociologists state that bride price or Caili is similar to dowry, but paid from a prospective groom to the family of the bride, rather than from the bride to the groom’s side of the family. Their reasoning is to encourage more marriages, which in turn will boost the birth rate in the country that is now struggling with a declining population rate.īut what exactly is this bride price custom and how does it affect marriages in China?īride price, also known as Caili, is a payment made from the prospective groom to the bride’s family to show his sincerity and wealth, while also compensating them for raising a daughter in a country that has long favoured sons.

There are many such instances that have been recorded in China and now, authorities are cracking down on this practice.

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