We’ve seen it before: Boy meets girl, they fall in love, they buy insurance, and then they get married and live happily ever after. Wait, how exactly does buying insurance fit in a love story?
Taking out insurance to get your partner to say “I do” may seem weird in most cultures, but several such insurance products exist in China. In these products, if a couple marries each other in the 10-year period after the policy’s maturity, then they will receive a payout, in cash or in kind, depending on the policy.
These policies have been available since 2015, and many young lovers have given love insurance certificates as gifts during Chinese or Western Valentine’s days. Chinese Valentine’s Day, which fell on February 11 this year, is set on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year.
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One such “love insurance” policy offered by China Life Insurance, the country’s largest life insurer, has a RMB299 (US$43.50) premium. Three years after buying the policy, the couple has 10 years to get married. If they do, they will receive 10,000 Carola roses from Yunnan province on their wedding day.
Several people have questioned the credibility of the policy, as it does not appear on China Life’s website and online shop, while others dismissed it as a marketing stunt. However, a company official confirmed its authenticity.
“It is a kind of new insurance we introduced that only lives on mobile devices,” a representative of the Beijing bureau of China Life Property & Casualty Insurance Company told Asia Times. “It is adapted to the consuming habits of young people.”
Data shows that young romances in China are quite fragile, so insurers won’t be operating at a loss. A 2015 study by the Social Survey Centre of China Youth Daily revealed that 70.7% of the 1,587 respondents agreed that college couples tend to break up after graduation. Only 10.1% believed that relationships tend to continue after finishing college.
If things don’t go as planned and the relationship ends in tragedy, not all is lost as China Life’s policy comes with accident insurance worth RMB10,000 (US$1,454). The accident insurance is valid for three years and covers only the person who paid for the policy.
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