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'Naked' truth for many young couples

By Li Fangchao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-21 15:21

I was a little dismayed when I heard the word "naked wedding" on a news broadcast the other day, but then understood it was definitely not anything obscene.

It means newlyweds without a house, car, diamond ring or grand wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, that fits my wife and me perfectly.

'Naked' truth for many young couples

I came to Beijing about three years ago and I think I earn much more than migrant workers. From the beginning, I think there was a clear line between me and the people who eat dry bread and toil 12 hours a day.

Despite that, the term "naked wedding" made me suddenly realize I am one of them. What I am doing is laying out newspaper pages, or building pages, so we are doing similar jobs building things. And none of us has a car, let alone a house.

After three years of saving and modest investment, I found I'm getting further toward the goal of a down payment for a house. Yet in September, while we hesitated about paying the 300,000-yuan down payment on a 1-million-yuan, 65-sq-m second-hand apartment outside the Fifth Ring Road, our agent told us the owner just raised the price to 1.05 million yuan. I was shocked and dropped the deal.

Every day I am bombarded with news on skyrocketing property prices. Though many say there is a huge bubble in the market, more people are buying before a preferential tax policy expires at the end of the year. So I stopped listening.

After all, we should not allow a heavy burden to spoil our mood. Life has to go on with or without owning one's own home.

We don't want to empty our wallets to become slaves to a mortgage. So we will have to be content with our "naked wedding".

I know I am lucky that I don't have to carry bricks all day and sleep in a shanty town at night. I am still young and I hope I will see the day the property market bubble bursts.