A couple pose for photos with their marriage certificates at a marriage registration office in Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 22, 2023. Many couples chose to get married on Tuesday, which is the traditional Qixi Festival, or the Chinese Valentine's Day.(Photo: Xinhua)

Starting from February, a set of new regulations will be officially implemented, involving issues such as railway security checks, housing rentals, healthcare, and public donations. Particularly in the regulation of bride price issues, the Supreme People's Court has reiterated the prohibition of soliciting property through marriage and clarified the distinction between betrothal gifts and general gifts during the courtship period, as well as specified several types of property that do not belong to betrothal gifts.

As a traditional Chinese custom, a bride price has a deep social and cultural foundation in the Chinese society. However, the rising amount of bride price in recent years has led to an increasing number of bride price-related disputes and even serious criminal cases.

The judicial interpretation issued by the Supreme People's Court reaffirmed the prohibition of soliciting property through marriage and prescribes regulations on the scope of bride price determination, principles of bride price return, and the qualifications of litigants. 

In disputes over prenuptial property, the party to the prenuptial agreement and their parents who actually paid the bride price can be joint plaintiffs, while the other party to the prenuptial agreement and their parents who actually received the bride price can be joint defendants.

The regulations also explicitly exclude several types of property from being considered as bride price, including small-value gifts, cash, or daily consumptive expenses given by one party on special occasions such as holidays or birthdays, as well as daily expenses incurred to express or enhance emotional connection. 

Such property or expenses, with small amounts and primarily for the purpose of enhancing emotional connection, do not need to be returned upon the termination of the prenuptial agreement or divorce, the regulations note. 

In addition, a standard for hospital infection monitoring was implemented starting from Thursday. It aims to establish an effective hospital infection monitoring and reporting system covering timely diagnosis of hospital infection cases, regular analysis of risk factors for hospital infection occurrence and inclusion of quality control of hospital infection monitoring in the overall medical quality management system.

Besides, Thursday has witnessed the implementation on the protection of geographical indication products. The measures clearly require that all or most of the production processes of geographical indication products should occur within a designated geographical area, and the products should have obvious quality characteristics and specific reputation. Producers must organize production according to corresponding standards, otherwise they will not be able to use the exclusive logo.

Global Times