European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Post Mao marriage sweepstakes by Ron Redmond United press International Appolo family portrait some Bride insist on computer and video cassette recorder in addition to the Standard dowry. There Are about 30.000 maid in Beijing alone almost All of whom started work in the last few years. They serve wealthier families for $10 a month plus room and Board five slate run companies place maids and five More such companies Are being formed. These Days the maids Are called by a new name service attendants to reduce Bourgeois associations but their work is the same. And they apparently have support at High Levels. The general manager of he biggest of he stale run maid Supply companies u Ruiqin. Said one of her customers was u Peng a soviet trained Deputy prime minister who is widely mentioned As a candidate for the prime minister s Job. I Peng himself apparently sees no contradiction Between maintaining the Campaign against Bourgeois liberalization and retaining his maid a Young woman from Hunan province. I the company manager said our information is that a is very satisfied with  Money can t buy love but in will get you32 legs four revolutions and two sound Sand that As any chinese knows i enough to buy a  some exceptions of course some Nso Dern minded chinese brides also insist on a computer and a video cassette recorder in addition to the Standard dowry of a bed four leg stable i h four chairs 20 leg wardrobe Lour leg refrigerator four legs electric fan bicycle sewing machine and Walch four revolution Sand television and radio Casselle two sounds. Then there s the lop of the Jine. 72-leg wedding featuring an entire living room set. All this Booty costs Money too much Money according to the chinese communist party which has condemned expensive weddings As Feuda Listic social  if the party had in Way All chinese couples would lie the knot in austere mass weddings usually sponsored by arms factories and work units. In a bid in promote such unions chinese television occasionally broadcasts mass marriage ceremonies featuring groups of self conscious newlyweds jointly Bobbing for apples and singing Mushy love songs. It does not look like fun. But some traditions die hard in China and after years of maoist galil arianism the party s Call Tor a Lillqu restraint in the marriage sweepstakes appears to to falling on Deal ears. In Huazhang township a Village on the out sorts of the Eastern i angst province own of Ruxi mrs. To Qiaozhen recently spent More than 20,000 Yuan $5,400 twice her family s annual income to marry off no. 2 son. I be already saved up a similar amount to pay for my youngest son s  said he silting on a sofa in her second son s Well furnished 72-leg apart col at the rear of the family s two Story Home. Chinese brides traditionally move in will the husband s parents often becoming virtual slaves to their mothers in jaw. Mrs. He said she and her husband spent about 10.000 Yuan $2.700 on her son s wedding banquet a sumptuous Day Long feast attended by some 200 guests and another to.,000 Yuan building Twa new rooms for the newlyweds. They also paid Lor most Oline Lum things. It is too extravagant agreed he when asked if she was aware of the communist party s Call for an end to lavish weddings. But Young people around Here pay a of of attention to these kinds of things As head of the Hua Huang Branch of i he Alt China women federation. He is supposed to set an example for other women in too Lown Bui Socia pressures remain Groat in Rural China. There is a lot of Competition Here con did a neighbor. Even i angst governor go Xiuliang. China s Only female governor and Mother of two sons appeared o have a soft spol for tradition. Perhaps Here is Loo much spending go said at a news conference Bui it s up to them la spend their Money As they like since they earn in them solves we do ask people to stick to hard struggle and Plain living and to Pul their Money in the  i angst officials said wedding costs Range Between $810 and $2,6q in Many Rural areas where the per Capila income in 1986 was s152. That is Money the government and communist party would just As soon see spent on socialist construction this bad practice has polluted social morality and increased id number of cases of conflict Between couples said the official communist party newspaper Peoples daily in a recent commentary. It said wedding costs have increased almost 10 limes Over the past a years leading to forced marriages suicide Anri murder and slowed development of the Rural  Othir reports said extra vagal spending on weddings often Breeds jealousy greed and ill feelings among families. On one Day alone a Hospital in the North Eastern City of Shenyang reported treating More than 30 wedding go oils for ailments ranging rom alcohol poisoning to knife wounds. But Tan boxing Deputy director of the Small i angst  of Luoyang. Says the trend toward extravagant weddings will be around Tor a Long Lime in the past people had a very hard  said Tan. They took it As a sign of backwardness it Trifley could not have a Good wedding " Beijing strollers brighter fashions new hairdos. In just a few years the chinese have radically changed . The stars and stripes Page 16