Chinanews, Beijing, May 17 – On holidays and festive¹ occasions, one will often find some cars that bear a Beijing plate number parked at some big restaurants in Tianjin. The car may not belong to a tour group. It might very probably be hired by a newlywed couple who hold their marriage ceremony in Tianjin. According to statistics released by the Tianjin Wedding Ceremony Service Association, 10-20% of the wedding banquets in Tianjin are held by young couples from Beijing, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

Shi Kangning, secretary general of the Committee of Wedding Service Industries of China Association of Social Workers, said that at present, a normal wedding banquet in Beijing usually costs about 1,000-1,200 yuan. However, in Tianjin, a young couple usually spend 600-800 yuan for a wedding banquet, only half of the price in Beijing, according to Pan Shuhui, chairman of the Tianjin Wedding Service Industry Association.

Pan said that the wedding emcees in Tianjin are fairly good and they often charge a lower price than in Beijing.

“In Beijing, if you want to hire a good emcee from TV stations, he/she often charges a high price. On the other hand, ordinary emcees are quite mediocre² in their hosting skills. In Tianjin, most of the emcees learned emcee skills at colleges. They are humorous and talkative. Furthermore, they often charge about 1,000 yuan for a marriage ceremony, which is less than those in Beijing,” Pan said.

He told this reporter that about 100 emcees in Tianjin often go to Beijing to host marriage ceremonies to make money.