The Chinese government has just passed a regulation that allows people from 21 provinces and cities in the country to register their marriages at the place where their residence permit was issued. Previously, prospective brides and grooms had to return to the city or country where their household registration was registered to register their marriage.
Getting married will soon become easier for people from other provinces in China. Photo: GI
Recently, some regions of China have issued residence permits to people with hukou attached to another area. For example, in Beijing, a person without a Beijing hukou can apply for a residence permit and have access to certain social services, such as health care.
The new rules are aimed at easing the travel burden on the country’s hundreds of millions of migrant workers, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday. “In 2020, China had 376 million migrants, of whom more than 120 million moved across provinces,” CCTV reported on Saturday.
While some people praised the convenience of the new regulation, others said it would not help increase marriage rates. “Do you think people are not getting married because it is inconvenient to register?” one commenter on Weibo said.
Last year, China's population shrank for the first time in six decades, with the national birth rate falling to a record low of 6.77 births per 1,000 people. By comparison, the US birth rate in 2022 is expected to be 12 births per 1,000 people.
The Chinese government has tried a range of measures to encourage people to marry and have children, including relaxing family planning policies, improving maternal health care and pay, and providing financial support for families with more than two children.
Chinese authorities have also cut back on large dowries in rural areas to ease the financial burden of marriage. In some places, bride dowries can reach 1 million yuan ($142,000), state news agency Xinhua reported in February.
Bui Huy (according to CCTV, SCMP)
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