- Feb 5, 2002
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China’s falling marriage rate is exacerbating a demographic crisis in the world's second-largest economy, as Beijing's pro-natalist policies fall flat.
For almost two decades, Abby Gao has been planning weddings in China. She smiles fondly as she recalls once booking 58 luxury cars, including Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis, for a single motorcade. Or the time she filled a wedding venue with 35,000 roses. She remembers the countless bottles of premium Moutai liquor, retailing for the equivalent of hundreds of dollarseach, that she would carefully place at the center of banquet tables.
Today, the 39-year-old has diversified into children’s birthdays, forced by plummeting demand for weddings.
“It’s dropped off a cliff,” said Gao, whose Beijing-based business only had about 100 wedding clients last year, down from a peak of almost 2,000 in 2012. “Young people now put their own happiness first, and that doesn’t always mean marriage.”
Continued below.
For almost two decades, Abby Gao has been planning weddings in China. She smiles fondly as she recalls once booking 58 luxury cars, including Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis, for a single motorcade. Or the time she filled a wedding venue with 35,000 roses. She remembers the countless bottles of premium Moutai liquor, retailing for the equivalent of hundreds of dollarseach, that she would carefully place at the center of banquet tables.
Today, the 39-year-old has diversified into children’s birthdays, forced by plummeting demand for weddings.
“It’s dropped off a cliff,” said Gao, whose Beijing-based business only had about 100 wedding clients last year, down from a peak of almost 2,000 in 2012. “Young people now put their own happiness first, and that doesn’t always mean marriage.”
Continued below.
