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For Chinese Women, Marriage Depends On Right 'Bride Price'

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Lucy Wang and Derek Wei represent the new modern Chinese bride and groom. With a lack of women in China, Wei had to pay more than $10,000 in a "bride price" to attract Wang to marry him.

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A scarcity of women in China is allowing them to make large financial demands of prospective grooms. In addition to money, grooms are expected to provide an apartment for their new wives.

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Wang looks in a heart-shaped mirror embossed with the Chinese character xi — meaning "double happiness."

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Wang's niece tries to shield her from Wei as part of traditional games played when the groom picks up the bride before their wedding ceremony.

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Wang's mother made special insoles for her daughter's lucky wedding shoes. The shoes were hidden for Wei to find and put on Wang's feet as part of the games leading up to the wedding.

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Wei finally makes it through the wedding games and finds his bride in her bedroom, waiting for him.

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Wei carries Wang out of her apartment to a waiting entourage of six Mercedes Benzs and Audis for the drive to their wedding ceremony at a Beijing restaurant.

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Wei smokes a cigarette as his Wang comes down the stairs for their wedding.

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After exchanging vows and wedding rings, the couple shares kisses after being egged on by their guests.

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The couple bows before their parents and offers them tea, as is traditional in Chinese weddings.

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Guests raise their glasses for a toast to the newlyweds.

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Wang and Wei go from table to table to toast their guests. Wei had to borrow money to pay Wang's bride price and is counting on his parents to give them an apartment to live in.

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Lucy Wang gets her makeup touched up before her wedding ceremony at a Beijing restaurant. Wang is marrying Derek Wei, who paid her family more than $10,000 for her bride price.

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Wang and Wei practice walking down the aisle, just before their wedding ceremony at a Beijing restaurant.

By Louisa Lim

Originally published on Tue April 23, 2013 3:05 pm

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Women hold up half the sky, China's Chairman Mao famously said. But in China, the one-child policy and the traditional preference for boys mean that 117 boys are born for every 100 baby girls. By one estimate, this means there could be 24 million Chinese men unable to find wives by the end of the decade.

As China's economy booms, the marriage market has become just that: a market, with new demands by women for apartments and cars.

But are women really benefiting from their scarcity?

Let's Make A Deal

7:27 pm

Mon April 22, 2013

Father Saves Boy From Alligator Attack, With A Stranger's Help

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Credit U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A Fish and Wildlife Service team caught and killed an alligator after the animal attacked a 6-year-old boy Friday. The boy survived with only incidental wounds.

Credit Google

An image from Google Maps shows the area of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge where Joey Welch, 6, was attacked by an alligator.

By Bill Chappell

Originally published on Tue April 23, 2013 3:05 pm

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A 6-year-old boy's day off from school Friday left him with a vivid story to tell his classmates, after he was seized — and eventually released — by an alligator in South Florida. The attack occurred at a wildlife refuge near Boynton Beach, Fla., where Joseph Welch had taken his son, Joey, for a canoe ride.

As Welch, a native of Rhode Island who now lives in Pompano Beach, says in a Morning Edition interview airing Tuesday, his idea had been to do "something new and different."

7:16 pm

Mon April 22, 2013

Half Of Guantanamo Detainees Now On Hunger Strike

By editor

We told you last week about an increase in the number of prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay. This week, that number has risen further – to cover half of all inmates at the U.S. detention facility; also, 1 in 10 inmates is now being force fed.

Eighty-four of the 166 prisoners at the camp are on hunger strike, the U.S. military said Sunday; 16 of them are being force fed through tubes.

6:14 pm

Mon April 22, 2013

Anthony Weiner Makes Twitter Comeback

Credit Richard Drew / AP

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner announces his resignation from Congress on June 16, 2011, in New York. The disgraced former congressman is reportedly considering a run for New York mayor.

By Krishnadev Calamur

Anthony Weiner is back — on Twitter, that is.

The disgraced politician who resigned his congressional seat after sending sexual images to female followers on the social networking site — and then lying about it — rejoined Twitter on Monday.

As of 5:50 p.m. ET, Weiner had 4,322 followers.

6:12 pm

Mon April 22, 2013

Former Teacher Charged For Child Porn Detained In Nicaragua

Credit FBI

Eric Justin Toth.

By Eyder Peralta

Nicaraguan authorities say they have detained Eric Justin Toth, a former teacher at a Washington, D.C., private school accused of producing child pornography.

Back in April 2012, Toth took Osama bin Laden's place on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

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The Changing Lives Of Women

3:42 am

Tue April 23, 2013