In 2012, Hong Kong billionaire Cecil Chao Sze-tsung made headlines when he offered a $65 million prize to any man who could seduce and marry his daughter, Gigi Chao, a businesswoman and university graduate. Gigi was (supposedly) already married to her long-term partner when the offer was made.This isn't the first time a wealthy parent has made a substantial quantity of money available to a man who could marry his daughter.
In fact, wealthy families have a long history of offering marriage rewards in order to locate appropriate husbands for their daughters.In the early twentieth century, E. H.
Harriman, an American industrialist, offered a $1 million bounty (equal to more than $10 million today) to any man who could marry his daughter, Averell. In the early twenty-first century, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich offered a $5 million reward to any guy who could marry his daughter, Dasha.While such stories may appear implausible, they demonstrate the extent to which some fathers would go in order to locate mates for their daughters.
It's hardly unexpected that some fathers are willing to provide substantial sums of money to potential suitors in a world where arranged weddings are still widespread.Gigi Chao's narrative is exceptional, yet it is not without precedent. It's not unexpected that in a world where money talks, some dads are willing to provide substantial sums of money to potential suitors in order to find husbands for their daughters.