'Naked marriage' challenges traditions

没有开销高昂的婚前准备及仪式，王绍伟和张馨只花9元钱领了个结婚证，就算喜结连理了.

Without expensive preparation and rituals, Wang Shaowei and Zhang Xin tied the knot at a cost of nine yuan, which was used to obtain the marriage certificate.

这对恋人刚刚参加工作，并已学会了自立。他们几乎摒弃了中国婚姻中所有的传统"必需品"：住房，汽车，以及举办昂贵的婚礼仪式.

The couple, who just entered the work force and had learned to be self-reliant, did away with nearly all the traditional "must-haves" for a Chinese wedding: owning an apartment, a car, wedding rings as well as holding an expensive ceremony.

"我们在租来的两居室公寓里吃了顿大餐，以此庆祝我们婚姻生活的开始。"和妻子住在河北省会石家庄，26岁的王绍伟说道.

"We had a big dinner in our two-bedroom rented apartment to celebrate the start of our married life, and nothing else," said the 26-year-old Wang, who lives with his wife in Shijiazhuang, capital city of the northern Hebei Province.

近年来，越来越多的中国年轻人选择"裸婚"。这个术语专指那些零资产，婚礼接近零开销的恋人们.

In recent years, an increasing number of Chinese young people have chosen a "naked marriage." The term refers to a couple who get hitched without any major assets and who spend little on their wedding ceremony.

"裸婚"和中国现有婚俗形成了鲜明对比。在中国传统婚礼中，双方父母会帮自己的子女打好物质基础.

The "naked marriage" is in sharp contradiction with China's established marriage customs, which encourage parents to help lay the material foundation for their children's marriage.

上周六恰逢今年中国传统的"七夕"情人节，此前《中国青年报》进行了一项社会调查，3214位受访者中有近48%的人支持"裸婚"，23%的人持反对意见.

According to a poll conducted by the social investigation center of the China Youth Daily prior to this year's Chinese Valentine's Day, Qixi Festival that fell on last Saturday, nearly 48 percent of 3,214 respondents said they supported the idea of "naked marriages," while about 23 percent opposed it.

该投票结果也表明，有约55%的受访者将勇气看作是维系"裸婚"的重要因素。同时，43%的受访者也承认，相比那些经济条件优越，同年龄段的恋人们，选择"裸婚"则意味着承担更多的困难.

The vote also showed that about 55 percent of the respondents viewed courage as essential when engaging in a "naked marriage" and 43 percent of them agreed that married life of the couple who had a "naked marriage" would be much tougher than their peers with better financial status.

在北京攻读博士的王海敏也是一名"裸婚族"说："和那些一结婚就什么都有的同事相比，我的婚姻似乎显得有些'简陋'。但我们在一起已经有8年时间了，我认为婚姻的基础是爱，而不是钱。".

"Compared with my peers who had everything when being married, my marriage seems a bit of `shabby.` But we've been together for eight years, and I think the foundation of marriage is love, rather than money," said one of the approvers, Wang Haimin, a PhD candidate in Beijing.

王海敏和她在外企工作的丈夫结婚已有两年时间了，他们仍就住在租来的房子里.

Wang and her husband, an employee with a foreign company, are still living in a rented home two years after getting married.

"如果一对夫妇在结婚时拥有了一切，那他们对未来还有什么期待呢？我认为婚姻最让人感到幸福的地方是两个人一起勤奋工作，一起为人生目标而奋斗。"新浪网络门户BBS的一则留言中写道.

"If a couple has had everything when they get married, what should they expect in the future? I think the most joyful part about marriage is that two people work hard to achieve every goal of life together," read a post on the BBS of the popular web portal of Sina.

然而，一些持不同观点的人则相信，就像中国谚语所说的："贫贱夫妻百事哀。"

Nevertheless, some objectors believe, as the Chinese proverb goes, "Everything goes wrong for the poor couple."

"一旦新婚夫妇们不得不为日常开销而奋斗，就会出现摩擦。"一位名为"乌龙茶"的新浪用户在帖子中写道.

"Frictions will be generated if the newlyweds have to struggle to make ends meet every day," posted Sina user "Wolongcha."

"中国人的理想生活方式就是安居乐业。没有经济基础的婚姻是不稳固的。"来自石家庄50岁的居民王淑青表示.

"The ideal life for Chinese is to live and work in peace and contentment. The marriage without a solid material foundation is unstable," said Wang Shuqin, a 50-year-old resident of Shijiazhuang.

虽然传统婚姻价值观仍在中国人心中根深蒂固，专家指出，越来越多的人开始接受"裸婚"，这表明青年一代对于婚姻持更加开放的态度.

Although the traditional marital values are still deep-rooted in Chinese people`s mind, experts said the increasing acceptance of "naked marriage" showed a more open-minded attitude of the youth.