China's hassle-free marriage rule fuels travel, consumption

A couple holds a destination wedding in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 10, 2025.(Xinhua)

BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- On Tuesday morning, Yang Min and his bride, He Xingyue, registered their marriage at the lakeside of Erhai, hundreds of miles away from their home in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The date of May 20 holds a special significance in China, as its Chinese pronunciation "520" resembles the phrase "wo ai ni," meaning "I love you." It is a peak time for marriage registrations, seeing long lines at marriage registries nationwide.

With China scrapping household registration rules for marriages earlier this month, couples are embracing a new "wedding plus travel" trend, merging their nuptials with vacation getaways.

"Since the marriage registration has become so much easier, we decided to get married where we first met," said Yang, from Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan. Their park-style registry is located on a peninsula at Erhai Lake, where a group wedding ceremony was held Tuesday morning in the Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali, also in Yunnan.

Yang added that following the wedding ceremony, the couple will spend a few days in Dali as a honeymoon.

The latest hassle-free marriage rule has made cross-region marriage registration more convenient, especially for those working outside their hometowns. According to a national population census in 2020, China's mobile population reached 376 million, including 125 million interprovincial migrants.

As the policy no longer requires people to register their marriage back home, young couples prefer to plan their weddings in their own way -- traveling to an ideal destination for a commemorative wedding, or a destination wedding.

To attract more lovebirds to arrange their weddings there to boost the consumption economy, places across the country have taken various measures.

Yunnan, a hot tourist destination known for its breathtaking landscape views, rich ethnic cultures and cuisines, has set up 114 park-style marriage registries, offering one-stop services for marriage registrations, wedding ceremonies and honeymoon tours. Chengdu, capital of the neighboring Sichuan Province, has moved a marriage registry to a snowy mountaintop at an altitude of 3,250 meters for marriage registration services, the highest spot in the city.

Sayram Lake, a scenic area in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, offers free lifetime entrance to couples who register their marriage there, making it an even more appealing destination for newlyweds to tie the knot.

Liang Sen, a native of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and his girlfriend Wang Mingyi, from Jilin Province in northeast China, recently drove over 10,000 km from Jilin to Sayram Lake for marriage registration.

"Both of us love traveling. The new marriage policy grants us the convenience and a special wedding," said Liang, adding that their experience of tasting local snacks, climbing the Great Wall and snow-capped mountains on the way became their romantic memory.

The booming destination weddings have stimulated businesses of various kinds, such as photography.

Chen Liuling, a Chengdu-based private photographer, said the photo shooting for marriage registration is usually priced from 200 yuan (about 27.8 U.S. dollars) to some 400 yuan, while more upscale studios charge up to 699 yuan.

"Many young couples seek both a sense of ceremony and cost-effectiveness. They're willing to spend a few hundred yuan to document this special moment," she said.

Zhao Canhui, head of the destination wedding branch of Dali's tourism association, said that young people today hold more diverse interpretations of romance, driving the emergence of popular wedding destinations.

He noted that these innovative marriage registration models reflect both consumption upgrades following policy relaxation and young people's redefinition of wedding ceremonies, making the "sweet economy" a new growth engine.

Women in wedding dresses are pictured at a wedding art center in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 20, 2025.(Xinhua)

A couple registers at a marriage registry in Panlong District, Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 20, 2025.(Xinhua)

Couples are pictured at a marriage registry in Panlong District, Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 20, 2025.(Xinhua)