China tries to tempt couples into marriage with music festival wedding booths
Officials are going to ever greater lengths to encourage couples to tie the knot, as they strive to boost China’s plunging marriage rate
Officials across China have been racking their brains to think of ways to reverse a sharp decline in the country’s marriage rate over the past few years. Their latest idea: Las Vegas-style weddings at popular music festivals.
Local officials in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, made headlines over the weekend when they set up a temporary registry office at the Super Strawberry Music Festival – the latest in a string of eye-catching local initiatives designed to tempt couples to tie the knot.
Eligible mainland Chinese couples at the festival were able to get married on the spot with just their ID cards and three passport-sized photos, according to the civil affairs bureau in Urumqi’s Shuimogou District.
Three couples got hitched at the booth while it was open on Saturday afternoon, according to local media reports. Yao Yuyang, a resident of a nearby city called Changji, had originally planned to marry her boyfriend on Monday, but the couple decided to change their plans when they arrived at the festival.
“The festival featured a performance by my favourite band, Summer Invasion Project, so we could get married and enjoy the music together,” Yao told the Urumqi Evening News on Sunday. “The on-site registration was convenient – it only took about 10 minutes to complete.”
Marriage registry offices have been popping up in unexpected locations across China with increasing frequency in recent months, as local officials do everything they can to boost the nation’s plummeting marriage rate.