New measure helps villagers cut down extravagant costs

Customs that have negative effects have been regulated in the past year through villager-autonomy measures in rural China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Friday.

Expensive dowry and extravagant ceremonies such as weddings and funerals are prevalent in some rural areas in the country, resulting in economic and mental burden on villagers.

"In the past, everyone hated bad customs but no one was able to get rid of them," said Zhang Tianzuo, director of the Ministry's Department of Rural Cooperative Economy.

"These unhealthy culture cannot be broken by one family, but need the whole reconstruction of rural culture," he added.

Villager autonomy, which lets villagers decide the standards and rules of rural ceremonies through consultations, is an effective method to solve the problem, Zhang said.

Also, rural authorities should provide public services such as holding mass weddings and dealing with funerals in a simple way to form healthy customs.

Villagers' expense on weddings and funerals have dropped dramatically thanks to the regulation in recent years, according to a rural governance guideline recently released by the ministry.

Taking Feixiang district in Handan, Hebei province, as an example, villagers now spend an average of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan ($312.93 to $469.39) on a wedding, a 76 to 84 percent drop. 

Meanwhile, the cost on funerals has fallen to less than 5,000 yuan, one sixth of the amount before.

Vice-director Mao Dezhi said the habits in many places like Feixiang have been greatly improved and local authorities have effectively controlled the spread of some unhealthy customs.