NUPTIALS: Chinese magnate provides $160-million dowry for daughter’s wedding

London, Jan 2 (IANS) A Chinese magnate, owner of a ceramics firm, gave his daughter an astounding $160 million dowry for her wedding that included four boxes of gold jewellery, two luxury cars and several homes, a British daily said.

The dowry included a bankbook with deposits worth $3.2 million and an impressive property portfolio, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.

Pictures of the dowry were posted online at the end of an “eight-day banquet” that took place in Jinjiang county in east China’s Fujian province.

Wu Duanbiao, chairman of ceramics firm Fujian Wanli Group, bequeathed the newlyweds 500 million shares in his ceramics firm, worth more than $16 million as well as a Porsche and a Mercedes car.

Wu, 54, also gave donations worth $2.4 million to two charities.

The full extent of his wealth is not known. Company records show he only drew a salary of $19,000 last year.

The bridegroom, a civil servant, had known his new wife since they were classmates in kindergarten.

A spokesman for Wu’s firm confirmed the endowment but denied the wedding was the eight-day open-air banquet described in the Internet post.