Vietnam restrains lavish bridal feasts
HANOI - Communist Vietnam is cracking down on traditionally lavish wedding parties thrown by government employees, ordering that no state money be used to fund them.
"Weddings should be held in a civilised and economical way for family members, relatives and friends. They should not be organised luxuriously and wastefully," Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem was quoted as saying in Thursday's Vietnam News daily. Hanoi is concerned about the image of free-spending government officials as it pushes ahead with an anti-corruption drive.
Nuptials in the Southeast Asian country of 80 million are serious affairs, sometimes lasting several days with lunches and dinners hosted for work colleagues, friends and relatives.
October through December are popular months for weddings, and expensive convention halls such as the glitzy Hanoi Tower in the capital city are often booked for banquets.
Khiem, one of three deputy prime ministers, also warned state employees not to host weddings during work hours. The interior ministry had been ordered to produce a set of rules on how to hold "proper, economical and civilised weddings", the report said.
Even the media have been roped into the campaign. The newspaper said they had been asked to produce stories that depict modest weddings between state workers.
Reuters - December 5, 2002
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