Blurring the fine line between giving gifts

It was the third "red card" Chen Ming has received for a wedding ceremony in Beijing during this National Day Holiday, while the other two are in Shanghai.

"Holidays, especially the so-called 'golden week', is a burden to me," the 28-year-old architect from Shanghai said with a wry smile. "I had planned to spend the break in France with my girlfriend, but that plan has gone up in smoke as I have to pay 'pocket money' to my friends."

He said that the "burden" brought by wedding invitations is both financial and psychological.