China articles - Chinese culture blog

ast week I received an invitation to my cousin’s wedding. The ceremony will take place in a hotel called the Cote d'Azur in a small coastal city of Jiangsu. Wedding ceremonies in China nowadays can be a mixture of both traditional Chinese and western style. And if browsing a list of wedding companies in China, you wouldn’t be surprised to find something like this: “Cinderella wedding services” offers wedding themes of Venice, Madrid, Prague, Provence, and the Aegean Sea.

Almost every couple in China takes “Wedding gown photos”, an album portraying the bride and groom wearing different outfits (which usually show the bride wearing at least one western wedding gown, an evening dress, one traditional Chinese costume and sometimes even more outfits from some other countries ). Usually heavy make-up and photo processing is applied, therefore very little room is left for personalization. “Wedding gown photos” taken in studios are the cheapest. If a couple prefers to add more personal elements or take out-door photos, the price will be consequently risen.

Wedding gift in China has changed through the years. My dad told me that in the 1970s, wedding gifts are about photo albums, vases and a few decorating stuff in addition to living goods. At that time, a wedding gift can be as large as a piece of basic furniture. In the 1980s, it became more popular to send even more practical gifts at a wedding: people tend to collect money among several friends and send a joint “Hong Bao” (红包，red packet ), a money gift: i.e. around 10 RMB each when an ordinary salary was only 30-40 RMB per month. Gradually the amount of money increases in a Hong Bao and it has become an individual gift, with the name of the sender written on the back of the envelope. In this way, the money covers the cost of the wedding dinner and also it expresses blessings.

For many young people, a wedding ceremony is more about getting married. It is an occasion to demonstrate one’s “Mianzi” (面子, face) and “Guanxi” (social networking relationship). Because marriage means more than to start a new life together for the couple, it is the most important and grandest occasion for most Chinese families. And parents are even more involved than young couples in preparing the wedding.

At the wedding day, the bride is by no doubt the focus of the ceremony. It has become increasingly popular that she wears at least three dresses for the big day: one white wedding gown, one evening dress and one Chinese cheongsum, which is usually in bright red, symbolizing happiness and bliss. A groom usually wears one western suit. In a traditional Chinese wedding, there is one bridesmaid and one best man, while the bridesmaid is usually carrying a big handbag for collecting the Hongbaos. Weddings usually take place at a most fancy restaurant as long as the hosts could afford. Normally there is a presider and a chief witness at a wedding ceremony from each of the couple’s side. Only people with higher social rank or superiority of the couple (sometimes the president of a company) will be given the roles. Guests of a wedding can be as many as several hundred people.

Did you know… ?

According to the tradition in Chinese culture, red is considered as a lucky color. “Chinese red” can be used for Chinese knot, paper-cutting, and it is widely used in wedding themes. In an ancient Chinese wedding, a bride wears a red dress with a red veil. For arranged marriage in ancient times, it is only the groom who can lift the veil and see the bride for the first time after the wedding ceremony.

In addition, picking the right date is also important for Chinese people, who are rather superstitious about them, especially dates of important occasions such as a wedding. A “lucky day” (黄道吉日) is auspicious (吉利). Numbers such as 8, 6, 9 are the most favored. For instance, on September 9th 2009, there were long queues for new couples to register for marriage, as the number 9 means long-lasting in Chinese culture. Numbers such as 4 and 250 should be avoided in any time in picking dates or sending Hong Baos.