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China has allowed couples to complete marriage registration at any qualified civil affairs registry nationwide, making it easier for them to combine registration with travel.
Local governments are improving public services for newlyweds, including premarital health checks, marriage-related legal awareness campaigns and wedding consumption vouchers.
By the end of 2025, China had established 1,330 outdoor sites for certificate presentation and 525 marriage registration sites in parks and other landmark locations.
Since China removed the requirement that couples register their marriages in the locality of their household registration, local authorities across the country have been exploring new venues and services to make the process more personalized and memorable.
From tourist destinations to football stadiums, music festivals and university campuses, young couples are choosing venues of marriage registration that reflect their interests and love stories. Also contributing to this trend is the growth of China’s wedding industry and a range of government measures to support marriage, childbirth and child-rearing.
ROMANTIC MOMENT
As a football fan, Wu Jingyu had never imagined that she and her would-be husband would register their marriage outside a football stadium during a match, exchanging vows and receiving their marriage certificate with the roar of the crowd in the background.
“It was truly unforgettable. The passion of watching football blended with the joy and romance of getting married,” Wu said, recalling the couple’s emotional moment outside the home stadium at a recent Jiangsu Football City League match in the city of Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province.
A photo wall and red ceremonial platform had been set up outside the stadium as a temporary marriage registration venue. Surrounded by cheering fans and family members, couples completed their formalities in a setting far removed from the conventional government service hall.
Such arrangements are emerging across China as local authorities seek to meet the preferences of younger couples and give marriage registration a greater sense of occasion.
In Nanjing, a city with around 2,500 years of recorded history in Jiangsu, couples interested in traditional culture can wear Han-style wedding robes and phoenix crowns, along with traditional makeup, for their registration ceremony. Other cities have incorporated marriage registration into music festivals, while some universities have organized group wedding ceremonies for alumni returning to their campuses.
By the end of 2025, China had established 1,330 outdoor sites for certificate presentation and 525 marriage registration sites in parks and other landmark locations, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
“Younger Chinese are exercising greater autonomy in their views on love and marriage,” said Zhou Yongbo, a professor at Soochow University in Jiangsu. “They value not only the marriage certificate but also a personalized experience, a sense of ceremony and memories they can cherish.”
THE “SWEET ECONOMY”
Since May 2025, China has allowed couples to complete marriage registration at any qualified civil affairs registry nationwide, making it easier for them to combine registration with travel.
In Lijiang, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, a couple exchanged vows in front of the snow-capped Yulong Snow Mountain, framed by a heart-shaped arch of white roses. This province’s tourism and cut-flower industries give it natural advantages as a destination-wedding choice, and local scenic areas and wedding companies have moved quickly to build a mature industry.
Yang Libin, head of a wedding planning company in Yunnan with over a decade of experience, began focusing on customized destination weddings in 2025. His team uses questionnaires and consultations to learn about couples’ stories and preferences before selecting venues and designing ceremonies. “Professional services should improve the couples’ experience and make every wedding unique,” Yang said. In the first year after their shift of focus, his company organized more than 280 destination weddings.
The wedding photography industry is another major part of the “sweet economy.” In Lijiang, industry associations have introduced service standards covering makeup, clothing, photo production and after-sales support. Packages costing around 10,000 yuan (about 1,500 U.S. dollars) can include costumes, makeup, private transport and accommodation.
By integrating photography, ceremonies and honeymoon travel, Lijiang attracted more than 140,000 couples in 2025, with its wedding industry market exceeding 1.1 billion yuan.
In Dali, another popular Yunnan destination, businesses have developed over 30 wedding settings, including lakeside lawns and traditional Bai ethnic courtyards, drawing on the area’s Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake.
Wang Yu, a groom from Hebei Province in north China, and his wife held their ceremony in the morning and took wedding photos near Erhai Lake in the afternoon, while relatives and friends visited nearby attractions. “There were no complicated formalities, and we could combine getting married with traveling. It has been a great experience.”
IMPROVED PUBLIC SERVICES
While simplifying registration procedures, local governments are also improving services for newlyweds.
In Haidian District of Beijing, for example, its maternal and child health care hospital has set up a premarital health center inside the district’s marriage registration office. Newlyweds can complete a premarital health check and marriage registration in the same building and on the same day.
In Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, a team from the local court has worked with marriage registration offices on multiple occasions during peak registration periods, giving newlyweds legal handbooks on marriage and family, Civil Code brochures, and briefings on spousal rights, joint property and family dispute resolution. This effort is part of a broader push to embed legal education into the registration process.
Many localities have even introduced marriage incentives and wedding consumption vouchers to help newlyweds manage expenses. Also, many provincial-level regions have extended marriage leave, with the longest reaching 30 days.
Local governments are seeking to link the development of the “sweet economy” with efforts to create a more supportive environment for marriage, childbirth and child-rearing. In 2025, China introduced 23 measures to support childbirth and child-rearing. Multiple regions have made childbirth-related medical expenses largely or entirely free for families, while Jiangsu has introduced childcare service vouchers.
Zhou added that localities are pairing the new registration settings with premarital education and legal consultation, which helps young people understand the rights and obligations of marriage and avoid registering on impulse.
“The business of romance is closely connected to people’s aspirations for a better life,” he said. “As society places greater emphasis on creating a family-friendly environment, preserving that sweetness requires continued innovation in public services.”
—Culled from Xinhua News Agency.
