On September 22, an even day on the Chinese lunar month calendar, a
convoy of ten Mercedes-Benz led by Lincoln limousine preceded up
the Chang'an Avenue in Beijing and stopped before a grand hotel.
Flowers, balloons and small figurines decorated the motorcade. The
newly wed couple stepped out of the limousine and were quickly
surrounded by photographers, video cameras and a cheering crowd.
This is the scene of a genuine modern day wedding in China.
According to the Purple House Wedding Company, one of the most
famous nuptial companies in the city, there were also many other
wedding ceremonies that day, considered an auspicious date in
China. To seize one of the limited numbers of banquet halls,
photographers, bands and wedding DJs for the day, many couples had
to book these services several months in advance. Large hotels and
restaurants were also running out of available weekends.
These days, as lifestyles improve, Chinese weddings are becoming
increasingly extravagant affairs. Instead of being content with
taking wedding photos and having a family banquet, as was the case
in the past, young couples are willing to spend considerably more
on memorable and distinguished wedding ceremonies. A recent survey
shows that young people of marriage age are ready to spend up to
91.2 percent of their savings on a wedding. As such, the wedding
industry in China has created a huge market with massive
potential.
Official figures suggest that 10 million people wed annually and
that the industry as whole turns over more than 250 billion yuan
(US$30.2 billion) each year. Big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai
and Guangzhou have established well developed wedding celebration
markets. Beijing, for example, leads the country with 1,000 wedding
related firms. About 50,000 couples get married each year in the
capital, a "diamond mine" for the wedding businesses.
Yang from the Shengshi-Xinyuan Wedding Company in Beijing said,
"Wedding DJs are one of the most important factors for people when
they choose a wedding company," during a telephone interview with
China.org.cn. Wedding DJs are divided into five categories with
prices ranging from 600 yuan (US$72) to 1,500 yuan (US$181). So the
prices for various wedding packages start from several thousand
yuan and can go up to hundreds of thousands of yuan (currently, 1
USD = 8.26690 CNY). To share in a slice of the wedding cake, many
TV station personalities, actors and actresses are also cashing in
on the industry.
To
cater to the differing tastes of couples, wedding companies now
provide an assortment of wedding packages ranging from underwater
weddings, tree-planting weddings, meadow weddings, and church
weddings, to villa weddings, overseas travel weddings, group
weddings and bridal sedan weddings.
Overseas honeymoons are also becoming more popular among young
Chinese, who think this kind of wedding is more romantic and in
some cases more economical. A travel agency and wedding company in
Beijing have joined hands to introduce the Thailand Travel Wedding
program, where a couple spends 8,288 yuan (US$1,002) for a romantic
tour of Thailand, 50 percent higher than a regular trip to the
country. This cooperation between the travel-agency and wedding
company enhances the competitiveness of both parties.
The first wedding company in China was established in 1990. Now the
wedding celebration market is huge and still rapidly expanding. Its
prosperity has also propelled the development of hotels, wedding
photo studios, car hiring companies, flower shops, travel agencies,
and even media organizations. Shops, stores and photo studios
benefiting from the boom in lavish weddings will continue to grow.
The flower industry flourishes from the brisk wedding trade. One
wedding celebration involved 10,000 yuan (US$1,209) worth of
flowers just to decorate the hired cars.
Yet as the wedding market lacks any supervision and control, there
exists a large opportunity for exploitation, inferior quality
services and outright fraud in the market. Some economists have
advised that it is essential to establish relevant regulations to
oversee the industry.
(china.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong, October 23, 2002)