Get a premarital checkup, and a serious illness must be truthfully disclosed to the other person before registration

Cost

In most areas it is free or discounted for people of marriageable age. Paid out of pocket it is only a few hundred CNY. It takes half a day.

What you get

The legal consequence of concealing is clear. The new Marriage Registration Regulations (婚姻登记条例) provide: "If one party has a serious illness, they shall truthfully inform the other party before marriage registration; if they do not, the other party may, under Article 1053 of the Civil Code (民法典), ask the people's court to annul the marriage." The state treats the premarital checkup as the first line of defense in preventing birth defects. The current target is "to keep the premarital medical examination rate and the coverage of the target population for the preconception health checkup at 70% and 80% or above, respectively." The document also requires "promoting the location of premarital medical examination institutions close to marriage registration offices for convenience," and promoting "'one-stop' service for marriage registration, premarital medical examination and childbearing guidance." The Civil Code provides that a party with a serious illness shall truthfully inform the other before marriage registration, and if they do not, the other party may ask the people's court to annul the marriage. A request to annul the marriage must be made within one year from the day the party knew or should have known of the ground for annulment. A premarital checkup is not a precondition for getting the certificate. The Tai'an Municipal Health Commission (泰安市卫健委) wrote in 2022, when replying to a proposal from the political consultative conference: "While abolishing 'compulsory premarital checkups,' the 2003 Marriage Registration Regulations (婚姻登记条例) explicitly required that marriage registration offices not attach other obligations when handling registration." The list of marriage registration documents in Article 8 of the current Regulations does not include a premarital checkup certificate

Notes

The checkup has not been a required step before getting the certificate since 2003, and going is voluntary. But the rule on "not truthfully disclosing a serious illness" really does give the other person the right to ask the court to annul the marriage, to be filed within one year of learning of it. There is no national rule that the checkup is free. The 2020 notice from five departments including the National Health Commission (国家卫健委) only says to "actively encourage localities to offer free premarital checkups according to their circumstances." So whether it is free and which items are checked is decided locally; ask at the local maternal and child health institution or the one-stop window of the marriage registry (婚姻登记处).

Evidence grade

B : Supported by research but without a precise number, or based on small or single studies.

Sources

1. National People's Congress (2020). Civil Code [in Chinese] (Article 1053). https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202006/t20200602_463888.shtml
2. State Council (2025). Marriage Registration Regulations [in Chinese] (State Council Order No. 804, Articles 8 and 12). https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202504/content_7017752.htm
3. General Office of the National Health Commission (2023). Plan to Improve Birth Defect Prevention and Control Capacity (2023-2027) [in Chinese] (Guo Wei Ban Fu You Fa [2023] No. 9). https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202308/content_6900320.htm
4. National Health Commission and four other departments (2020). Notice on Strengthening Premarital Health Care Work [in Chinese] (Guo Wei Fu You Han [2020] No. 205): "Actively encourage localities to offer free premarital checkups according to local conditions". https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2020-05/22/content_5513902.htm
5. Tai'an Municipal Health Commission (2022). Reply to the "Suggestion on the Management of Premarital Medical Examinations" [in Chinese] (No. 188 of the First Session of the 14th Municipal CPPCC). http://www.taian.gov.cn/art/2022/7/8/art_176934_24592.html

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 10, tip 14. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer