Thousands of strangers travelled to a wedding in China after the groom posted an emotional online invitation asking people to attend.
Xu Chenghong, 24, worried guests might be reluctant to make the journey to his wedding to Luo Chui because the ceremony was being held in a rural village in Yunnan province.
With only his brother among his close relatives, the groom turned to Douyin, China’s equivalent of TikTok. Using the name Xiao Xiao Xu, he invited strangers to come and “fill up the tables” at the celebration.
His appeal quickly went viral. Although he had only a modest online following, more than 10,000 well-wishers travelled to the mountainous village in southwestern China.
The unexpected guests arrived just days after Mr Chenghong posted his request on the Sunday before the wedding, making the journey by car, plane and train.
They also arrived with gifts, despite the groom’s request that guests should not bring “red envelopes”—the cash traditionally presented at Chinese weddings.
Instead, the newlyweds received freezers, electric heaters and food for their wedding banquet. The couple married last Saturday.
Chefs volunteered to help prepare the feast, while the bride received complimentary makeup. An online influencer who drove from his own village brought 9,999 roses for the occasion.
Xu Chenghong pictured with his new wife, Luo Chui, at their wedding last Saturday in China’s Yunnan province
More than 10,000 well-wishers gathered in the mountainous village in southwestern China to celebrate the wedding of Mr Chenghong and Ms Chui
Chefs helped prepare the wedding feast, with some of the thousands of attendees also donating food
Mr Chenghong had spent much of his life supporting himself after his father died, leaving him and his brother to be raised by their grandmother. She later passed away while the boys were still young.
He worked a series of casual jobs on construction sites and in factories before also running his own food stall.
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Over time, the groom saved 128,000 yuan—around £14,300—for the dowry expected in modern China.
However, local media reported that Mr Chenghong’s father-in-law returned the money, saying the groom needed it more than the bride’s family did.
The village embraced the celebration in keeping with the province’s reputation for hospitality, eventually moving the festivities to the town square to accommodate the huge crowd.
A Shanghai newspaper said the wedding had “transcended the operating logic of the close-knit, kinship-based society of rural China”.
Yunnan Television described the event as evidence that “strangers could become family, and that the internet can convey the most personal emotions”.
The sudden attention also led to several Xiao Xiao Xu accounts appearing online, apparently with the intention of profiting from the viral story.
Ms Chui received free makeup from a stranger who attended her wedding last weekend
It comes as marriage registrations in China dropped to a decade low.
China recorded 1.697 million marriage registrations in the quarter, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in May.
The figures were the latest sign of China’s deepening demographic challenges.
China’s population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025, while its birth rate dropped to a record low, prompting warnings from demographers of further decline.
Couples in China have traditionally had children after marriage, reflecting both cultural norms and administrative rules that have in some cases linked birth registration or access to benefits to a marriage certificate.
Authorities have rolled out a range of measures to encourage marriage and childbearing, including family subsidies, childcare support and efforts to reduce childbirth-related medical costs.