Why you should make more friends from Chang Le
If you ever come to the Fujian Province, my advice to you is this - make friends with lots of single Chang Le people, and try to steer clear of everyone else.
A normal wedding in China involves (like many other occasions in China) the packing of lucky money for the bride and groom. Normally you'll be expected to pay 300 RMB for a friend in Fuzhou, or 600-900 RMB for a good friend - sometimes in the peak wedding seasons (Autumn time usually) you might have 4 weddings in a month, and so the cost can mount up.
However, Chang Le is the only place I've heard of in China where they give you money! Yes, if you go to a wedding in Chang Le, you will return with more money than you started out with.
Chang Le is famous for trade and large numbers of its residents travelling overseas. So, as a way to display their wealth and 'give face', at a Chang Le wedding, the brothers/cousins of the groom will line up at each table and hand over @100 RMB to each person at the table.
A friend of mine recently came back from a wedding down there, and 'earned' 1000 RMB - so, if you're ever hard-up, go to a Chang Le wedding!
