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

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. 全国人大 (2020). 民法典（第一千零五十三条）. https://www.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，第十二条）. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202504/content_7017752.htm
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）. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202308/content_6900320.htm
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」. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2020-05/22/content_5513902.htm

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