Chinese county rewards men who marry outside

BEIJING - A Chinese county is rewarding men who marry women from outside the area, but there are few takers.

The decision to reward men with up to 3,000 yuan ($450) was taken by Yaolu county in Guizhou province to encourage men to find wives outside the area, China Daily reported Wednesday.

Yaolu has witnessed more and more local women marrying outside the area, causing an increase in the number of single men. Nearly half of the area’s young women have married non-locals in recent years.

This led the authorities to offer rewards to men marrying women outside the county.

This policy has been effective since Oct 1 last year. So far, just three couples have received the reward money.

Qin Mengjiao, an official in charge of the county’s population and family planning affairs, said: “That money will help the bridegroom pay the betrothal gifts and could promote more couples here.”