If everything had gone to plan Estelle would be about to embark on a flight from her Beijing home to England for her honeymoon. “We thought September was good because after that it gets really cold and rainy,” she says.

　　如果一切按照按计划进行，28岁的品牌经理Estelle原本即将从北京飞往英国度蜜月。她说道：“我们觉得9月份这个时间不错，因为这以后，英国会变得非常寒冷和多雨。”

　　But now the honeymoon is off. When Estelle and her boyfriend started arranging the wedding, her mother demanded – as is common in China – that the groom buy the couple an apartment first. With sky-high property prices , that was out of reach. “Now we’ve put everything on hold and are reviewing our options,” says Estelle. “Maybe we should just get married anyway – you have to give love a chance.”

　　但如今蜜月已被取消。当Estelle和男友开始筹办婚事时，她妈妈提出了要求:男方必须先购买一套住房——这种情况在中国十分普遍。在房价极高的情况下，这成了一项无法完成的任务。“现在我们把所有事情都停了下来，正在考虑各种选择，”Estelle表示。“或许，我们应该不顾一切地结婚——你必须给爱情一个机会。”

　　The conundrum confronting the 28-year-old brand manager is one many young Chinese are now facing. The present-day interpretation of Confucian traditions, which treat marriage as a union of two families rather than individuals, may require parents to demand a price for their offspring. But with the price of entry rising beyond reach many young Chinese are starting to opt for “naked weddings” instead, embarking on a life of matrimonial bliss without the usual materialistic trappings.

　　中国的许多年轻人，如今正面临着与Estelle一样的难题。按照儒家的传统，婚姻是两个家庭、而不单纯是两个人的结合，而时下对这种传统的解读，或许会让父母为子女要求一个“价格”。但由于“价格”门槛越来越高不可攀，中国很多年轻人开始转而选择“裸婚”(naked weddings)，即在没有通常的物质准备的情况下，开始步入婚姻殿堂。

　　The phenomenon has even spawned a hit television soap opera, also called Naked Weddings, which follows a young couple who opt to marry despite parental opposition and without the usual financial accoutrements. It topped the ratings earlier this year when it ran on CCTV, the main state broadcaster, and is the most popular TV series ever on Youku, China’s biggest online video site.

　　这种现象甚至催生了一部名字就叫作《裸婚》的热门电视剧，讲述的是一对年轻夫妇不顾父母反对，选择在没房没车没婚礼的情况下结婚。今年早些时候，这部电视剧在中国央视播出时，创下了收视第一的佳绩，在中国最大的在线视频网站优酷(Youku)上，它也是最受欢迎的一部电视剧。

　　For Estelle a naked wedding seems like a refreshingly simple option. “Chinese society is so materialistic and there is no trust between people,” she complains.

　　对于Estelle而言，裸婚似乎像是一个令人振奋的简单选择。她抱怨称：“中国社会太物质化了，人们之间没有信任。”

　　Behind what looks like a romantic revolution are some very real social dynamics. “Increasing migration, higher education levels for women and, most importantly, soaring real estate prices have made marriage impossible for many if they want to conform with the requirements of tradition,” says Zhang Yi, a marriage expert at the Chinese academy of social sciences.

　　在看似一场浪漫革命的背后，潜藏着一些非常真实的社会动因。中国社科院的婚姻专家张翼表示：“越来越多的移民、女性受教育程度的提高以及（最为重要的是）不断飙升的房价，让结婚成为许多希望遵从传统要求的人所无法办到的事情。”

　　After dropping in the late 1990s, in line with the typical trend in modernising societies, China’s marriage rate has also started rising again. After bottoming at 6.1 couples per 1,000 citizens in 2002, it bounced back to 9.1 couples per 1,000 citizens in 2009.

　　在上世纪90年代末出现下降后，与社会现代化的典型趋势一致，中国的结婚率也开始再度上升。在2002年达到每1000人新增6.1对夫妇的最低点后，2009年反弹至新增9.1对。

　　“The huge amount of labour migration across China means we have tens of millions of young people far away from home. They get used to making decisions without their parents and they fall in love,” says Professor Zhang. “In addition, people are choosing naked marriages in scores now because so many have waited for so long that they have reached an age where if they wait any longer, they will be left unmarried for life.”

　　“中国大量的外来务工人员，意味着我们有数千万年轻人远离家乡。他们习惯了在父母不在的情况下做决定，他们坠入了爱河，”张翼说道，“另外，现在很多人选择裸婚的原因是，很多人已经等待了很久，如果再等下去，他们将一辈子单身。”

　　A recent supreme court ruling that a house bought by one spouse prior to the wedding remained that spouse’s personal property – intended to clarify things in case of a divorce – has only added to young people’s feelings of desperation about such materialism and the lack of romance.

　　最高法院最近的一项裁决规定，夫妻中一方在婚前购买的住房，将被认定为一方的个人财产——此规定旨在明确一旦离婚时的财产事宜。这一新规只是加深了年轻人对于这种物质主义和缺乏浪漫的极度失望感。

　　For many young Chinese even the prospect of a naked wedding presents complications.

　　对于中国的很多年轻人而言，即便是裸婚的前景也是问题重重。

　　Zhou Shengwang, a 31-year-old sales agent in Beijing, earns more than Rmb10,000 ($1,568) a month, a salary that places him firmly in the middle class. But he does not feel affluent and still frets about whether he will ever marry at all. “I’m really worried about taking on even more financial responsibility,” he says.

　　31岁的北京销售代理周盛旺（音译）每月工资超过1万元人民币（合1568美元），这使他稳稳处于中产阶层。但他觉得自己并不富有，对于是否会结婚仍心存顾虑。他表示：“我确实对于承担更多的财务责任感到担忧。”

　　Complicating matters, his girlfriend of seven years has bent the truth and told her parents that he already owns a flat, to make him more acceptable in their eyes.

　　让情况更复杂的是，他交往7年的女友对自己父母谎称他已有房，这是为了让他更容易被她的父母所接受。

　　“If we were to marry, they would demand to see the property certificate. But I missed the moment for buying a flat when prices were still lower, and now it’s far beyond my means – so we can’t ever get married,” he says.

　　他表示：“如果我们要结婚，他们会提出看房产证。但我已经错过了在房价较低时购房的机会，如今，房价已远远超出了我的承受能力——因此我们根本没法结婚。”