The story of a Chinese woman choosing to pay for her fiancé’s debt instead of accepting a sizable dowry has gone viral on Chinese social media.
The woman, surnamed Zhou, revealed in a video uploaded to her Douyin channel that she paid for her fiancé’s debt of 180,000 yuan (approximately $25,800) and refused a dowry of 300,000 yuan (approximately $43,000) that his parents offered to her.
After dating for a month, the couple ultimately decided that they would marry each other and hold the ceremony at the end of this year, Jimu News reported.
In addition to the dowry, Hu’s parents also offered a red envelope with 10,000 yuan (approximately $1,400) inside.
However, Zhou did not take it, according to reports.
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She took out all of her savings instead and used the money to pay off Hu’s debt that reportedly stemmed from a previous bad investment.
“I gave him all my savings of 180,000 yuan to pay back a loan he owed,” Zhou, a native of Nanchang, the capital of China’s Jiangxi province, told Star Video. “Money is not the basis of love and it’s not a decisive factor. He can give me infinite love.”
Zhou’s story, which has amassed over four million views on Chinese social media, has garnered both negative and positive comments from social media users.
Some of them left supportive messages for the woman, while others were critical of her decision to pay for her future husband’s debt.
“His family can offer a bride price of 300,000 yuan, but they can’t repay his debt of 180,000 yuan, seriously?” one user commented, while another wrote, “I really think Zhou is a fool,” according to South China Morning Post.
In response to the negative feedback she received online, Zhou explained in another video that she has faith in her future husband, adding, “I believe in us working together for a better future.”
Hu has reportedly vowed to pay Zhou back and take care of her.
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