Local authorities must not interfere in weddings

TAIQIAN COUNTY in Central China's Henan province has reportedly issued a guideline that imposes restrictions on the amount of money people can spend on weddings and funerals. For example, it says a man cannot pay his would-be wife's family more than 60,000 yuan ($8,645) as betrothal gift. Southern Metropolis Daily commented on Saturday:

Although "non-compulsory", Taiqian's guideline says a wedding banquet should not have more than 10 tables of guests and five or fewer vehicles should be used for a wedding, and village committees are poised to carry it out. The possible penalties and intervention also contradict the guideline's "non-binding" nature.

The question is: What if residents refuse to follow the administrative guideline in which they had little say? Even if the rules manage to be listed in community codes without any opposition, they will be difficult to implement.