Chinanews, Beijing, July 5 – For Chinese, making an engagement before marriage is regarded as a romantic and typical Western tradition. As the world is becoming more and more globalized, the Western tradition is beginning to gain popularity among white collars in large and medium-sized Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Zhuhai.

A person who works in a company dealing with marriage celebration business said that since last year, engagement banquet had become an important part of their business. Most people who arranged such banquets were white collar workers. While making engagement could add something unique to the new couple’s romantic life, he said it also allowed the two to better understand each other before they married.

Accompanied by melodic music and surrounded by friends and relatives, lovers might both have a romantic memory when the man gives the engagement ring to his sweetheart. However, in China, engagement ceremony can also mean the start of a trial marriage.

“We chose to contract an engagement because we hoped that we could know more about each other during this time,” said Mr. Shi, an employee of a foreign-funded company. After the engagement ceremony, he bought a house with his girl friend and the two started to live together. To them, after the engagement ceremony, the two can live together “legally” and during the “trial marriage” period, the two would know whether they can live happily together with the household chores. If the two find something wrong, they could easily part with each other without having to worry about the financial issue.

A recent investigation shows that 60% of young women are in favor of the engagement ceremony. The engagement rings andthe roses are both “very romantic” and most important, it becomes a transitional period for the two to know each other more deeply.

However, not many men like engagement ceremony as women do. Even for those who are willing to contract such engagement, they might regard it as a way to propose marriage. By giving the diamond ring to the girl, the would-be groom wants to show that he is really well-off. (Source: Chinanews.cn)