In a major decision that will affect the personal lives of millions of Chinese citizens, the Chinese government has decided to relax and amend marriage rules from October 1 this year.

An adult Chinese male and female will be able to marry only if they furnish their ID cards and residence documents and sign a statement that they are single and not related, the new regulation says.

The couples need not produce a letter from their employers testifying to their unmarried status and will not have to undergo a health examination, according to this new regulation issued by the state council, China's cabinet, on Thursday.
For the past several decades, government marriage offices required people to show letters provided by their employers. This helped the government to control the number of marriages in the country.

The new regulation says that people may take a health examination before marriage, but will not be forced to do so.

The marriage will be invalidated if one of the partners is shown to have a medical condition.