In Longwangmiao Village, Nanhedian Town, Nanzhao County, Nanyang City, Henan Province, an upsurge of changing customs and advocating a new style of civilized marriage is quietly rising.
"After decades of hard work, once married, they returned to the poverty line. Many families got married alone, the whole family was in debt, and their daughter and son-in-law just got married, they were in debt. When we thought about the pressure of children after marriage, whether the young couple could live happily in a small life, people said it was true..." Recently, In the Moral Lecture Hall of the New Era Civilization Practice Station in Longwangmiao Village, Nanhedian Town, Nanzhao County, a lecture with the theme of resisting the old custom of "sky high bride price" and advocating the new trend of "civilized marriage" is being held. Sun Changwang, the chairman of the Red and White Council of the village, talks to the villagers about civilized education.
"I used to think that when children got married, they had to talk about the market and the brand. The higher the betrothal gifts, the more beautiful the scenery, and the more the number of reception tables at the wedding, the better the arrangement easy Only through popular preaching can we understand that the wedding ceremony is a big undertaking, which costs money and trouble, and also builds up a debt of gratitude and bears a heavy economic burden. We all support new initiatives and advocate "zero betrothal gifts" and "low betrothal gifts". " The villager Song Fuhua said with deep feeling.
"That's what we think. In the past, the wedding was frugal because it was too difficult for us to show our feelings. We were afraid of being pointed out by outsiders, and jokes were not made. Now, the 'village rules and regulations' have helped us dispel our concerns, and everyone is fully supporting the new trend of changing customs." said Li Zhenyi, a villager.
In Longwangmiao Village, villagers are busy with farm work, and their spare neighbors gather at the New Era Civilization Practice Station of the village. Big guys sit together. After the promotion of civilization and quality education, everyone opens their chatterbox and talks freely. "Don't betrothal gifts, be happy" has become the consensus of villagers. In 2023, six married families in the village achieved low and zero betrothal gifts.
On the 24th day of the eighth lunar month in 2023, the daughter of Zhang Dabao, a villager, got married, and her son in law was a childhood sweetheart with deep feelings. Zhang Dabao decided to take the lead in implementing "zero lottery" for his daughter's marriage Reject Abandon the old conventions and customs of sky high bride price, and make the wedding simple and warm. Zhang Dabao believes that the value of a daughter does not lie in the amount of betrothal gifts. The higher the betrothal gifts, the more expensive the daughter is. We should not let the "priceless betrothal gifts" become a "roadblock" to a good marriage. We should consider more about the happiness of the daughter and son-in-law after marriage. Zhang Dabao's "zero bride price" married daughter won the praise of local people. After marriage, her daughter and son-in-law went to Jiangsu to work together, and the couple's life became better and better.
"Our village has organized the revision and improvement of village rules and regulations, set up the Red and White Council, and included high price bride price, human comparison, and great exercises in the moral review list by widely listening to public opinion, understanding people's feelings, and concentrating people's wisdom. Every year, we carry out selection and evaluation activities to educate people around us with personal affairs. Actively explore and use the incentive and reward mechanisms such as civilized families and star rated civilized households, continue to carry out the selection activities of changing customs and advanced models, and successfully create the "Five Star Party Branch" of Henan Province. " Li Yin, secretary of the Party branch of Longwangmiao Village, said proudly.
In recent years, Nanzhao County, Nanyang, has taken changing customs and renovating weddings and funerals as a practical action to thoroughly implement the core socialist values, implement the requirements of strengthening the moral construction of citizens in the new era, and take the "sky high bride price" as a breakthrough point, as an important measure to promote the rural revitalization strategy, innovate grass-roots social governance, and strengthen the construction of spiritual civilization, Red and White Councils were set up in 311 villages (communities) in the county to actively promote the reform of marriage customs, break the traditional bad habits, actively promote simple and moderate marriage customs and etiquette, and advocate the formation of a new civilized fashion of marriage in the whole society.
Reject the priceless betrothal gifts and let love return to its original nature. Nanzhao County plays the main role of the masses, soliciting opinions and appeals from the masses extensively, starting from the link where the masses' opinions are the largest and the most strongly reflected, and on the basis of respecting traditional folk customs, it formulates village rules and regulations, and red and white council articles of association for each village according to the bad customs and habits. Put an end to the phenomenon of pushing up the bride price, advocate new wedding ceremonies, implement zero bride price and low bride price marriages, and abandon the stereotypes of borrowing money for marriage and repaying debts after marriage, so that the elderly and newlyweds can get married with "huge debts".
Nanzhao County, taking advantage of traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival and the Tanabata Festival, and before the wedding time nodes such as the "May Day" and the "National Day" holiday, issued a proposal to change the customs, widely distributed propaganda color pages against sky high bride price, and used the county's media to push the propaganda film and short-sighted frequency of civilized marriage in real time, so as not to let money destroy love, and not let bride price kidnap marriage, which was echoed by the masses, The new trend of "civilized marriage" with zero betrothal gifts, low price betrothal gifts and simple marriage is still popular. On March 12 last year, more than 20 newlyweds were organized to plant trees collectively in Nanzhao County. A romantic and meaningful collective wedding was held. More than 20 couples planted a "love memorial forest" and planted a "couple tree" to witness their love. The county civil affairs bureau issued a commemorative marriage certificate with special commemorative significance to the newlyweds. （ Liao Tao, Wang Xiuwen ）
