The high cost of getting married – up to 1 million yuan (US$155,000) – has dampened the marital hopes of many single men in poorer rural parts of China, according to a recent report.

To win a bride in rural villages, a bachelor typically must pay a cash premium of around 150,000 yuan to her family as well as provide a home and car, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

In one village in Shanxi province, residents estimated that a man must spend at least 950,000 yuan. This includes 600,000 yuan for a fully functional flat with furniture and appliances, 200,000 yuan for a car, and 150,000 yuan for her family, as well as jewelry.

“In some cases, it costs 1 million yuan to marry a woman in the village. I can’t afford it,” one man was quoted as saying. The village has a population of 600, with more than 20 unmarried men of marriageable age, Xinhua reported.

Villagers near the Yueyang city in Hunan province have developed a new trend of buying more expensive houses in recent years, instead of building their own homes for around 200,000 yuan as they used to do, the report said.

Adding to the men’s woes is the gender gap between men and women, the report said. One village in Henan province has 44 single men aged from 23 to 32, while there were only 32 single women in that age range.

Many women who have migrated from rural to urban areas to work are reluctant to marry men from villages, the report said.

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