New regulations aimed at guiding the public to rationally view the relationship between marriage and betrothal gifts now in effect in China and with the aim of establishing a healthy, frugal and civilised concept of marriage could be putting an end to an age-old custom.
中国现行的新规定旨在引导公众理性看待婚姻与彩礼的关系，树立健康、节俭、文明的婚姻观，可能会终结这一古老的习俗。
Today, 1 February, saw enter in to force the “Regulations of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Betrothal Gift Disputes”, adopted by the 1905th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court on 13 November, 2023.
2023年11月13日最高人民法院审判委员会第1905次会议通过的《最高人民法院关于审理聘礼纠纷案件适用法律若干问题的规定》于今天2月1日起施行。
Before the nitty gritty of the legal speak, the background to the new regs is based, in part, on grisly developments which illustrate how out of control the system of betrothal in China, also known simply as “bride price”, has recently become.
在讨论法律细节之前，新规定的背景部分是基于可怕的事态发展，这些事态发展说明了中国的订婚制度（也简称为“彩礼”）最近已经变得多么失控。
The most high-profile case occurred on 11 November last year in Liangshan of Sichuan Province. As Global Times reported, it was there that a woman and a relative were murdered by the woman’s ex-boyfriend and his father.
最引人注目的案件发生在去年11月11日四川省凉山州。据《环球时报》报道，正是在那里，一名妇女和一名亲戚被该妇女的前男友及其父亲谋杀。
The killing turned out to have been motivated by the woman’s refusal to return the bride price after she decided to break up with the man. She had been given ¥300,000 but repaid just half the amount after the couple split.
事实证明，这起杀人事件的起因是女子决定与男子分手后拒绝退还彩礼。她得到了30万日元，但在夫妻分手后只偿还了一半。
As to the specifics of the new regs, Nanjing Daily today reported them as stating, “If one party asks for property through marriage in the name of betrothal gift, and the other party requests return, the People’s Court should support it”.
至于新规定的具体内容，《南京日报》今日报道称，“一方以聘礼名义索取婚姻财产，另一方要求返还的，人民法院应予支持”。
That said, comprehensive consideration should also be given to factors such as whether the couple live together, the possible involvement of a pregnancy, faults of both parties, etc.
不过，还要综合考虑夫妻是否同居、是否可能怀孕、双方都有过错等因素。
The upshot of all of this is that in cases where a man has provided a property for his bride by way of betrothal, he may now ask for the return of his wife’s legal half share in the event of their divorce.
所有这一切的结果是，如果男人通过订婚的方式为新娘提供了财产，那么他现在可以在离婚时要求返还妻子合法的一半份额。
It also means that a woman can no longer marry a man as sole means to acquire a guaranteed half share in a piece of real estate and then divorce the man immediately afterwards.
这也意味着，女性不能再与男性结婚作为获得房产一半份额的唯一手段，然后立即与男性离婚。
While the new regs are virtually sure to eliminate incidents such as the murder in Sichuan, lying behind it is almost certainly another motive; an attempt to tackle China’s recent skyrocketing rates of divorce.
虽然新法规几乎肯定会消除四川谋杀案等事件，但几乎可以肯定，其背后还有另一个动机。试图解决中国最近飙升的离婚率。
