simplified Chinese: 裸婚; pinyin: luǒhūn

Naked Marriage

Sometimes referred to as “bare marriage,” describes a couple who get hitched without any major assets and who spend little on their wedding ceremony. In recent years, there is a growing number of Chinese youth who opt out of expensive preparations and rituals. These trendy weddings are a sharp contradiction from traditional Chinese weddings that won’t happen until the couple owns an apartment, a car, and wedding rings, and holds a grand, lavish ceremony. China’s established marriage customs also encourage parents to help lay the material foundation for their children’s marriage. Another trend among Chinese youth that diverges from Chinese tradition is “flash marriage”, a Chinese slang for a marriage between partners who have known each other less than one month. Both “naked marriage” and “flash marriage” represent a departure from traditional Chinese values and exemplify the changing attitudes of the Chinese youth.

Naked culture became popular after the Global Financial Crisis, which increased China’s living costs and job competition. Under the influence of the financial crisis, naked culture grew in popularity. Two viral people who exemplified this culture were a college student that streaked on the street to the naked bathing beach of Sanya and the naked anchor doing push-ups. Thus “nakedness” is both a literal and figurative term. It is Chinese netizens who spread the ideology of naked culture.

Before the Chinese Valentine’s Day, Qixi Festival, the social investigation of the China Daily conducted a 2011 poll in which nearly 48% of 3,214 respondents said they supported “naked marriages,” while 23% opposed it. Marriage has always been a cardinal issue for Chinese people, and the tradition of creating a material foundation comes from its symbolization of a family’s social status. Unlike this family conception of marriage, modern young people place an emphasis on independence and freedom. Naked marriage also reflects a new mindset toward materialism in the modern world.

Examples

1.) “Compared with my peers who had everything when being married, my naked marriage seems a bit `shabby.` But we’ve been together for eight years, and I think the foundation of marriage is love, rather than money.” Wang Haimin, a PhD candidate in Beijing

2.) An engaged young Chinese couple sits on a bicycle as they pose for wedding photographs to the theme of naked wedding, on a pedestrian bridge over a busy highway in a traffic jam on Valentines Day in Beijing, China, on February 14, 2011.

Citations

“Chinese Terminology: Naked Marriage – Chinadaily.com.cn.” China Daily, CGTN, 20 Dec. 2018, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201812/20/WS5c1b40a0a3107d4c3a001ece.html.

Gavin. “Naked Marriage in China.” China Highlights, China Highlights, 11 Mar. 2022, https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/article-naked-marriage.htm.

“‘裸婚族’向传统宣战 ‘Naked Marriage’ Challenges Traditions.” China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency, 11 Aug. 2011, http://www.china.org.cn/learning_chinese/extensive_reading/2011-08/11/content_23187983.htm.

“‘80后’跨入30岁门槛 生活工作怎么样？.” Www.news.cn, Legal Evening News, 1 Jan. 2010, https://web.archive.org/web/20151208155401/http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-01/01/content_12737710_1.htm.