She was her own “something blue.”
Devastating footage from the north-central China province of Gansu shows a beautiful bride bawling at her wedding because she’s being forced to marry a man she barely knows, AsiaWire T4 reports.
The unidentified woman is seen refusing to let the groom hold her hand or help her with her elaborate wedding gown.
Chinese media revealed that the pair had only met a couple of times before Tuesday’s ceremony. The woman reportedly had no other option but to comply with the local customs.
One video from the celebration shows the stone-faced bride choking back tears as she sits in a gorgeous white dress with an intricate neckline.
The heartbreaking clips drew sympathy from users of Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
“I wish they were tears of joy,” one user lamented.
“If you don’t love someone, you don’t have to marry,” another declared. “There’s no need to make people suffer unjustly.”
“What kind of custom is this? If you don’t like being forced to marry, why is it like this? If you don’t like it, just run away,” a third advised.
Once customary in China, arranged marriages fell by the wayside in the country with the 1950 passage of the New Marriage Law. One tenet was that both the bride and the groom had to consent to marriage.
Marriage, overall, is less popular in China, sparking concerns about a demographic crisis.
In 2022, China recorded 6.83 million marriage registrations — the lowest number since this data began being released in 1986, CNN reported.
The average age in China for tying the knot for the first time was 28.67 years old in 2020, the outlet noted, up from 24.89 years old the prior decade.
Monetary rewards for young newlyweds are being offered to try to reverse the trend.
In the US, the marriage rate finally rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
31.2 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women were recorded that year, research shows.
In 2021, the marriage rate hit a remarkable low, with 28 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women logged.
