CCTV: Bride Prices in China Are Sky-High

Earlier this week, news
of a pregnant woman forced into abortion by her father after her
husband-to-be could not afford her bride price became trending on Sina
Weibo. The father of the bride wanted him to pay 200,000 RMB (30,680
US$) to get married to his daughter.

Bride prices are a long-standing tradition in China. A ‘bride price’ is
an amount of money or goods paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s
family upon marriage. Since China’s gender imbalance has made it more
difficult for men to find a bride, the ‘bridewealth’ prices have gone up
drastically. This holds especially true for the poorer, rural areas in
China.