New bride: Wu Ruibiao’s daughter was given four boxes of gold jewellery,
a bankbook with deposits worth £2m and an impressive property portfolio
A wealthy Chinese tile magnate gave his daughter a
gigantic £100million dowry that included four boxes of gold jewellery, two
luxury cars, shares and several homes for her lavish wedding. The extravagant gift included four boxes of gold
jewellery, a bankbook with deposits worth £2m (20m yuan) and an impressive
property portfolio.
Pictures of the generous dowry were posted online
on Sunday, at the end of the ’eight-day banquet’, which took place in Cizao
town, Jinjiang county, in eastern China’s Fujian province.Wu Duanbiao, chairman of ceramics firm Fujian
Wanli Group, gave his daughter’s new husband real estate including a retail
store in Quanzhou, the Olympic villas and the Wanda mansion.
He also bequeathed the newlyweds 500m shares in
his ceramics firm worth more than £10m (100m yuan) as well as a Porsche and a
Mercedes which draped with red ribbons.
Wu, 54, also gave donations worth £1.5m (15m yuan)
to two charities, according to local media reports.
The full extent his wealth is not known and
company records show he only drew a salary of £12,000 last year.
His wife described the groom as ‘an outstanding
young man’ saying: ‘He gets his bread from the government.
‘As parents, we certainly want our child’s life to
be more stable than our lives as entrepreneurs.’
The bride is already on the board of her father’s
company and reportedly masterminded a recent stock market listing in Korea.
The bridegroom, a civil servant whose surname is
Xu, had known his new wife since they were classmates in kindergarten.
With these rings: Just some of the valuable jewellery included in Miss Wu’s dowryWith these rings:
Just some of the valuable jewellery included in Miss Wu’s dowry to her civil servant husband
Perfect present: The groom – a civil servant –
will now be the proud owner of prime real estate including a retail store in
Quanzhou, Olympic villas and the Wanda mansionPerfect present: The groom – a
civil servant – will now be the proud owner of prime real estate including a
retail store in Quanzhou, Olympic villas and the Wanda mansion
A spokesman for Wu’s firm, Wanli management,
confirmed the endowment, but denied the wedding was to be the ‘eight day
open-air banquet’ described in the internet post and said that Wu would ‘keep
things simple’.
The post claimed the wedding banquet was beginning
on December 28 would last eight days to entertain public guests.
for the cameras. He father also gave donations worth £1.5m to two
charitiesBride and joy: Miss Wu, whose father is a tile magnate, poses for the
cameras. He father also gave donations worth £1.5m to two charities
Many readers of the weibo website praised Wu for
donating to charities and his display of love for his daughter, according to
South China Morning Post.
Bestowing expensive dowries has long been a Fujian
marriage tradition, particularly in the Jinjiang and Shishi areas.
The tradition is sometimes seen as a manifestation
of gender inequality in the region, because expensive dowries are supposed to
ensure the bride will be treated well by her husband and in-laws
.
BETTER THAN ROBBING A BANK? THE JINJIANG DOWRY
TRADITION
The practice of bestowing generous dowries has
long been a Fujian marriage custom, particularly in the Jinjiang and Shishi
areas.
But since China’s economic explosion has created
super-wealthy upper classes, the tradition has increasingly become an important
measure of a family’s importance and status.
The billionaire businessmen of Jinjiang now
compete over who can amass the largest dowries.
One Hong Kong newspaper recently described
marrying a girl from Jinjiang as being ‘better than robbing a bank’.
Some claim the practice is a manifestation of
gender inequality, because expensive dowries are supposed to ensure the bride
will be treated well by her husband and in-laws.
Of course most Chinese families cannot afford such
expensive gifts and traditional dowry items include:
* Bedding such as pillows
blankets and bed sheets
* New clothes for the bride
presented in a suitcase
* A tea set for the wedding’s
tea ceremony
* Baby items including pottys
and baby bathtubs
* Two pairs of red wooden
clogs, wedding slippers or bedroom slippers
* A sewing basket (with an even
number of rolls of thread)
* Gold jewellery given by
bride’s parents
Last month, another Jinjiang billionaire married
off his daughter with a dowry worth more than 2billion yuan, following the
example of Hengan International’s chairman, who paid 2.5 billion yuan
for his niece’s wedding a year ago.
– South China Morning Post
