Chinese Authorities Offer Money for Mixed Marriages

Hoping for assimilation in multi-ethnic China and to curtail protests and unrest, Chinese officials have started paying cash bonuses for interracial marriages, reports Jamil Anderlini for Financial Times – an annual payment of $1600, or the 135 percent of average annual rural incomes, for up to five years. Uighurs, Mongolians and other minorities make up about 10 percent of the Chinese population and will also be eligible for extra funding for health, education and housing. Cash incentives are also offered in Tibet. Like Tibet, the western region of Xinjiang has a history of unrest, which China blames on outside separatists. With Han migration into the region, Uighurs are a minority in Xinjiang, too. Uighurs are Muslim, and religious rules generally discourage interfaith marriages for women while requiring the children of men to be raised as Muslims. – YaleGlobal