Couples who want to apply for a marriage licence in Beijing will have to dress smartly in future, or risk being turned away.
将来想在北京登记结婚的新人们必须穿戴得体，不然登记处有可能会将他们拒之门外。
The city’s Civil Affairs Bureau has announced a new rule stipulating that couples won’t be issued a licence to wed if they show up in shorts, T-shirts or other casual wear, the state newspaper Beijing Daily reports.
北京市民政局近日宣布，如果有人穿短裤、体恤衫或是其他休闲服饰到民政局办理结婚登记手续，则将不予颁发结婚证书。
The bureau’s marriage registration director, Han Mingxi, says people aren’t showing sufficient respect for the process. "It is not unusual to see couples registering in shorts and slippers. It shows their carelessness and disrespect for marriage," he tells the paper. "From one glance you can see that marriage registration is being treated as a casual affair, and this is prone to many problems."
北京市民政局婚姻登记处处长韩明喜表示，有些人没有表现出对婚姻登记应有的尊重，“穿背心裤衩或者穿拖鞋直接来办理婚姻登记的不在少数，这足以说明他们对待婚姻的漫不经心，随便一看就能看出他们对待婚姻的态度过于随意，未来生活中容易引起各种问题。”
Coming into effect on 1 July, the new rule is part of efforts to tackle the capital’s divorce rate. Mr Han says his bureau is currently analysing a large number of divorce cases, and asking experts to "propose methods and ways to promote marriage and family happiness".
新规定将于今年7月1日开始实施，其目的在于降低北京的离婚率。韩处长说，民政局最近在对大量的离婚案子进行分析，并向专家征求了诸多可以“促进家庭和谐发展的方法”。
China’s divorce rate has been rising for more than a decade: in 2015, the government said that 3.6m couples ended their unions during the previous year. Beijing had the highest rate among cities, with 55,000 divorces in a single year.
过去十多年来，中国的离婚率一直居高不下。2015年，政府表示上一年的离婚案例高达360万，而北京的离婚率名列前茅，达到5.5万。
There has been a mixed response to the new rule among Chinese social media users. "Marriage is not child’s play, it should be dignified," writes one on the Sina Weibo microblogging site. But others think applying for a licence shouldn’t have to be a big deal. "What if a young couple want a low-key event?" asks one user, who thinks that applying for a licence is "simply a boring and tedious process" anyway.
对此，中国社交媒体上褒贬不一。有网友在新浪微博上说，“婚姻不是儿戏，理应重视”。但也有网友表示，登记结婚并不是什么大事，一网友认为领结婚证“只是一个无聊乏味的过程”，他留言说，“如果这对新人只是想要一个低调的结婚仪式呢”？
