| Since the reform and opening up,the rural economy has shown continuous growth,and with the gradual increase of farmers’ income,the amount of marriage bride price has also increased,and in rural areas,people attach great importance to the marriage of their children,but the growth rate of farmers’ income lags far behind the soaring bride price,which makes the already poor rural families worse,resulting in a huge financial burden for rural families,thus.In recent years,the phenomenon of high bride price in Gaopo Township and the neighboring areas of Longli County and Huishui County,where the Miao live,has become a widespread concern,while similar phenomenon does not occur in the surrounding Buyi villages.This is directly related to the traditional customs of the Miao people in Gaopo Township.The local Miao customs stipulate that no aunt with a foreign surname is allowed to live in the village,and girls from the village can only marry out,so the male family needs to pay a substantial amount of bride price as compensation for the female family to raise their daughter.In fact,this creates the phenomenon of legal pluralism,which undoubtedly conflicts with the marriage system of practicing freedom of marriage and equality between men and women;prohibiting arranged and bought and sold marriages and other interferences in the freedom of marriage;and prohibiting solicitation of property through marriage,as stipulated in the Civil Code of China.Therefore,this paper takes village P of Gaopo Township as an example in the same cultural model area,and conducts an in-depth research on it to investigate the social impact and legal problems caused by the high bride price,so as to explore the real causes of the problem and provide effective countermeasures and suggestions for solving it.In the first chapter,this paper analyzes the current situation of high bride price in village P by introducing the geographical conditions and development of village P,and analyzing the current situation of high bride price in village P by combining the local Hmong ritual marriage procedures and the existence of bride price;In the second chapter,it summarizes the legal problems caused by the high bride price in village P into four aspects: affecting the freedom of marriage,the villagers’ weak legal awareness,the high bride price violating public order and morality,and causing economic disputes,which are discussed in the context of the author’s field survey;In the third chapter,based on the author’s visits to the local police station,the general government office and village P,the real reasons for the high bride price are uncovered: the traditional customs of the Hmong people in village P have contributed to the high bride price;young laborers go out to work and marriageable women are more willing to seek opportunities in developed areas,making the imbalance in the ratio of men to women in the local marriage circle,resulting in a "marriage squeeze"."The differences in the comprehensive conditions of marriageable men further encourage the high bride price;the lack of governance ability makes it difficult to control the phenomenon of high bride price.In the fourth chapter,in view of the social problems caused by the high bride price,we propose countermeasures and suggestions for Village P in Gaopo Township from three aspects: rule of law propaganda,villagers’ self-governance,and the construction of material and spiritual civilization,based on the principles of lawlessness is not enough and formal and informal systems are coordinated. |
PDF Full Text Request