Wedding scramble: end to China’s policy of holidays for 'late marriages' leads to dash for the registry
Changes in decades-old population policy also sound death knell for incentives to delay marriage
Qiang Bin stood outside the Jingan district marriage registry office in Shanghai with his fiancée on Monday, clutching a bunch of red roses and in a race against time.
Qiang, 33, and his bride had originally planned to tie the knot in May next year but decided only on Sunday to get married.
They were one of many Chinese couples seeking to take advantage of “late-marriage” holidays that will be eliminated when changes to the country’s population law come into effect on January 1.
We made the decision last night to register our marriage as soon as possible to take advantage of the existing law and enjoy the seven days of additional leave
The landmark changes passed by the top legislature on Sunday not only mark the end of the decades-old one-child policy – they also mean the end to extra holidays that were given to couples who delayed marriage.
The length of the holidays varied across the country, but men who got married over the age of 25 and women who waited until at least 23 were eligible for more leave than the usual three days.
In Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin it amounted to seven extra days, in Guangdong 10 , in Sichuan and Shaanxi 20, and in Shanxi and Gansu it was a massive 27 days.
“The new [family planning] law came out Sunday afternoon and they confirmed that there will no late-marriage holiday. So we made the decision last night to register our marriage as soon as possible to take advantage of the existing law and enjoy the seven days of additional leave,” Qiang said.