Good wives worth their weight in gold

"During the old days, the better families would give gold weighing a total of eight taels," Tu explains.

A "tael" is a traditional unit of measurement that is the equivalent of about 38 grams.

Tu's employer travels often to Hong Kong on business and buys the gold jewelry for her.

"The gold is better in Hong Kong and I know it's real. The designs are also prettier," Tu says, fingering a pair of earrings delicately shaped like roses. She also has a matching pendant and bracelet of the same design.

The total cost of the jewelry was about 15,000 yuan ($2,400), and for Tu, it means saving every penny of five months' salary.

But, that's not the end of her story.

Tu and her son did meet a few prospective brides, but no agreement was reached and the search for a daughter-in-law is far from over.

"The eligible girls in the village are asking for a lot more. They now want a house, and not even the old farmhouse is enough. They want a new two-story building," she says, sadly.

In the years while Tu was away in Beijing, the marriage stakes had obviously been raised. There are fewer girls of marrying age in the village or in neighboring villages now, as most have been tempted away and have joined the migrant worker hordes.

Those tied by commitments to home are asking for a higher price to marry and stay on in the community.

"I will need another 400,000 yuan or so to build a decent house," Tu says, carefully folding away the pieces of gold in a red silk scarf. And, to save that sort of money, she will need to be working for many, many more years.

In the meantime, her son continues to work as a security guard for a Beijing bank, keeping hours that are far from conducive to him meeting another migrant worker or city girl.

Tu is still hopeful that her son will get married, even if it means that she only gets to go home 10 days a year for the next 10 years.