Have one premarital medical check before marriage; a serious disease must be truthfully told to the other person before registration

If you have a serious disease and did not truthfully tell the other person before registration, the other person can ask a court to revoke the marriage. The request must be made within one year of knowing. The premarital check itself has not been a precondition for registering since 2003; going is voluntary. Fees follow local policy; it takes half a day.

Cost

In most places free or reduced for people of eligible age. Self-pay is only a few hundred yuan. It takes half a day.

Benefit

The legal consequence of concealment is clear. The new marriage-registration regulation provides that “where one party has a serious disease, that party shall truthfully inform the other party before marriage registration; where that is not done truthfully, the other party may, under Article 1053 of the Civil Code, ask a people’s court to revoke the marriage.” The state treats the premarital check as the first gate in preventing birth defects. The current targets are that “the premarital medical examination rate and the coverage rate of the target population for pre-pregnancy eugenic health checks remain above 70% and 80% respectively.” The document also requires “promoting premarital medical examination institutions and marriage-registration places being sited near each other for public convenience,” and promoting “one-stop” service for “marriage registration, premarital medical examination, and fertility guidance.” The Civil Code provides that a party with a serious disease shall truthfully inform before marriage registration; if not, the other party may ask a people’s court to revoke the marriage. A request to revoke must be made within one year of the day the person knew or should have known the ground for revocation. The premarital check is not a precondition for registering. A 2022 reply by the Tai’an Municipal Health Commission to a CPPCC proposal stated: “While the 2003 Marriage Registration Regulation cancelled ‘mandatory premarital checks,’ it also made clear that marriage-registration authorities must not attach other duties when handling registration.” Article 8 of the current regulation’s list of marriage-registration materials also has no premarital-check certificate.

Notes

Since 2003 the premarital check has not been a required step before registering; going is voluntary. But “having a serious disease and not saying so truthfully” does give the other person the right to ask a court to revoke the marriage, within one year of knowing. There is no nationwide uniform rule that the check is free. A 2020 notice from the National Health Commission and four other departments only said “actively advocate that localities, in light of their situation, promote free premarital checks.” So whether it is free and which items are checked are set locally; ask at the local maternal-and-child health institution or the one-stop window at the marriage-registration office.

Sources · 5

1. 全国人大 (2020). 民法典（第一千零五十三条）. spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202006/t20200602_463888.shtml
2. 国务院 (2025). 婚姻登记条例（国令第 804 号，第八、十二条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202504/content_70177…
3. 国家卫生健康委办公厅 (2023). 出生缺陷防治能力提升计划（2023—2027 年）（国卫办妇幼发〔2023〕9 号）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202308/content_69003…
4. 国家卫生健康委等五部门 (2020). 关于加强婚前保健工作的通知（国卫妇幼函〔2020〕205 号）：「积极倡导各地结合实际推行免费婚前检查」. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2020-05/22/content_5…
5. 泰安市卫生健康委员会 (2022). 《关于婚前医学检查管理的建议》的答复（市政协十四届一次会议第 188 号）. taian.gov.cn/art/2022/7/8/art_176934_24592.html