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CV NEWS FEED // Members of Gen Z in China are getting married in karaoke parlors, hot pot restaurants, and fast food restaurants, including McDonald’s, in protest of the country’s extreme wedding costs.
Asia News reports that surveys have shown that 80% of Chinese young people between 15 and 24 favor “minimalist” weddings. The news agency states that traditional wedding ceremonies are “perceived as boring, too formal, and very expensive.”
McDonald’s and other chains have responded to the trend by offering wedding packages. In Hong Kong, a McDonald’s wedding package costs $385. It includes a McNugget bridal bouquet.
Asia News explained that in 2020, a report found that the average wedding cost 174,000 yuan (US$ 24,600), which is almost 9 times the monthly income of a working couple. By 2023, the average wedding cost 330,000 yuan (around $46,564 in US currency.)
The trend corresponds with the “three no wedding” trend on Chinese social media, which involves “no convoy of limousines, no bridesmaids and witnesses, and no ritual in which the groom must gain entry to the bride’s home by completing a series of challenges,” according to Asia News.
An article from SCMP sheds light on the “three no wedding” trend, partially attributing it to changing perspectives on the role of men and women in Chinese society.
The article states that many of the people who choose a “three no wedding” ceremony are reflecting “a desire to ditch outdated patriarchal beliefs that the husband owns his wife who has been transferred from one man to another.”
However, SCMP states, “Cost is the main reason young people are increasingly rejecting formal wedding customs.”
