Where women wear 10kg of jewelry to get a husband

On her wedding day, Guanghui Wu had to wear 10 kilograms of silver jewelry.

Speaking about having to carry a large amount of silver on her body at the wedding, Guanghui Wu smiled: "Every girl here must have a set of silver jewelry to be able to get married. You will know how rich a person is through the amount of silver she wears."

Not only Wu, Miao ethnic women in Guizhou province, China also worship silver jewelry. According to the local people here, a woman will no longer be a woman if she lacks silver jewelry.

Today, Chinese society has progressed a lot. However, Wu and many other girls in the tribe are not ready to give up this long-standing tradition. Photo: BBC.

In addition to weddings, girls also wear a lot of jewelry on other occasions such as funerals or the Spring Festival when couples publicly declare their love. To get that huge amount of jewelry, the girls' families had to prepare and collect it for 10 years. They believed that if their daughters had less silver than other girls, they would not be able to get married.

Wu’s mother, Zilan Zhang, appeared in a modest blue outfit. She wore quite a lot of silver: a large silver necklace around her neck, and many other large and small bracelets on her arms. However, this amount of silver was “insignificant” compared to the jewelry Wu wore every day.

For girls like Wu, wearing an extra 10kg of silver on their body has never been a problem. Photo: BBC.

Wu’s father, Peiyuan, was born in Hongxi, a village with a 100-year history of silversmithing. Like many other silversmiths in the village, Wu’s parents moved to Kaili County to open a shop selling silver jewelry to tourists. Previously, the family made silver jewelry at home and sold it at the market once a week. However, when they moved to the city, they earned more money. That meant they could buy a larger silver dowry for their daughter.

Nowadays, Hong Khe’s population is dwindling as young people want to leave. The village is mostly made up of children and the elderly. Wu said she wants to raise her children in the place where she was born and raised, as well as continue her family’s traditional occupation.

More and more young generations are leaving this traditional silver-making village to go to the city to find work. Photo: BBC.

According to VNE