Agencies allowed to help mixed couples tie knot
- Source: Global Times
- [08:32 July 16 2010]
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Mixed couples celebrate their wedding by planting trees in Shanghai. Photo: IC
By Liu Dong
The city has decided that it should not meddle in the love affairs of Chinese and foreigners wanting to spend the rest of their lives together, announcing the eradication of a legal clause banning marital agencies from arranging marriages between the couples Thursday.
The Civil Affairs Bureau said that the law, which allowed companies to be fined up to 500,000 yuan ($73,773) for offering the service, was simply outdate and not suitable for this day and age, according to a woman from the marriage administration of the bureau, who asked not to be identified by the Global Times Thursday.
Twenty years after China legalized marriages between Chinese and foreigners, a law restricting mixed couples to wed through the help of marital agencies came into force in 1998. The code also applied to residents from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Jiayuan.com, one of the largest online marital agencies in Shanghai, welcomes the news with an eye on expanding business as more cross-cultural couples look to marriage.
"There are many outstanding single males and females in the city, who cannot find their 'better half'," a public relations officer from the company, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Global Times Thursday. "Some are looking for cross-cultural love to pursue a lifetime of happiness.
"The loosening of this policy will surely help that cause in the future," she added.
The marital agency, which targets couples wanting to find a spouse, charges up to 500 yuan ($74) for registration, which allows clients to be connected with one another through online and offline events. The rest is up to them - or fate.
As Shanghai continues to transform into an international city, more Chinese and foreigners have been getting married with an annual average of some 3,000 cross-cultural couples tying the knot in recent years, up from less than 150 such couples from when the law against the use of marital agencies was first introduced over 30 years ago.
