Gaudy, tacky gold jewelry is of little practical use: always setting off metal detectors, jingle-jangling whenever you walk, continual requests in public to hear your catchphrase “I pity da’ fool!” But what good is achieving wealth in China if you can’t boast about it?

The conflicting dichotomy of the virtue of humility versus the need to rise above your peers again came into conflict when a new bride in Shunde, Foshan in Guangdong Province took to Weibo to boldly display her gold jewelry in an ostentatious display of wealth. It’s looks as though she got more than she bargained for.

The bride got married last year on December 15, 2013 in Shunde at a facility called Beijiao Huamei. A grand ceremony that included lavish wedding gifts, the bride had worn a lot of jewelry:

“[I'm] guess [I'm] wearing about 50 bracelets, 1 diamond tiara, 1 diamond necklace, a pair of earrings, 3 one-karat diamond rings… I estimate I have no less than 1000g of gold [on me].”

Just as she intended, her Weibo post attracted a lot of attention. However, it was the wrong kind of attention—the kind that doesn’t feed the ego. When she tried to delete the pictures “for safety”, this led to another round of attention as the post went viral yesterday. And during this time of austerity measures and economic slowdown, public displays of wealth aren’t taken very well by the public.

Money can’t buy happiness. But lots of attention can feed a sense of vanity—and then, even more attention can humble an egregiously balanced ego.

Photos: SZ News