Chinese couple spends wedding night copying entire Communist constitution by hand

Whoever said romance is dead might actually be right.

There are many romantic ways for a couple to spend their wedding night - most couples choose to spend it celebrating with their friends and family or scooting off to a dreamy destination, but a couple from China chose to do something completely different. 

Li Yunpeng and Chen Xuanchi decided to transcribe the entire Chinese Communist Party's constitution by hand on their wedding night - mind you, the document contains 11 chapters and is over 15,000 Chinese characters long.

Mr Li and Ms Chen's decision was sparked by a loyalty campaign titled "Hand Copy the Constitution for 100 Days", which was adopted by state-owned Nanchang Railway Bureau for its employees in April this year.

As employees of the company, both Mr Li and Ms Chen wanted to take part in the initiative themselves - and thought it best to do so on their wedding day. 

According to Global Times, a state-run newspaper in China, the constitution-copying initiative comes after the government's announcement on a new national education campaign that emphasises learning about the constitution, President Xi Jinping's speeches as well as the Communist Party of China's (CPC) rules. 

Nanchang Railway Bureau shared pictures of the couple as well as other employees who have copied out the constitution in a post on WeChat.

In its post, the bureau said that the newlyweds wanted to have "fond memories of their wedding night" and so made up their mind to copy the constitution on their wedding night. 

But netizens were skeptical.

"They're faking it," said one netizen on Weibo.

"I just want to know, who is in their bridal suite on their wedding night taking pictures of them?" said another.

"I haven't read the Party constitution, can someone tell me which chapters tell you how to make love?" mocked another person. 

At the start of this year, China's education ministry issued a directive urging all Chinese students in the country and those studying abroad to dedicate themselves more to "patriotic education". 

This is in line with President Xi's attempt to "amplify nationalist sentiments and consolidate the Party's power over the country", the Huffington Post reported.

While the campaign to write out the entire constitution was launched by the People’s Daily in March, many people were not aware about it. It was only after photos of Li and Chen surfaced that netizens found out about it.

mldas@sph.com.sg