婚礼Wedding

Related News: Over 100 foreign students from 26 countries experience a Qing Dynasty-style wedding at a folk museum in the ancient city of Huizhou, east China's Zhejiang province on January 18, 2015.

These students in wedding costumes of Qing dynasty are seen performing the wedding customs of throwing a ball(投绣球), carrying a sedan chair(抬花轿), and performing formal bows(拜堂) at the activity.

Have you attended a traditional Chinese wedding? Do you know how it goes?

Wedding 婚礼 hūn lǐ 

A traditional Chinese wedding is a very complicated process. A good date and a good hour must first be seleced. On the wedding day, the bride, who always wears a traditional costume and a red covering for her entire head, is carried to the bridegroom's home in a sedan chair. Making formal bows are the most important part of a Chinese wedding. The bride and groom bow to Heaven and Earth, to their parents and to each other before they are formally recognized as husband and wife. The bride, still with her head covered, is then escorted to their bedroom, wheras the groom stays to entertain the guests at the banquet. Interestingly, throughout the wedding ceremony, neither the bridegroom nor the guests are able to see the face of the bride. It is only after the banquet when the groom joins his bride that he can remove the red covering and look at her face.

[xīn láng] 新郎 bridegroom
[xīn niáng] 新娘 bride
[bài táng] 拜堂 making formal bows
[hóng gài tóu] 红盖头 red covering
[huā jiào] 花轿 sedan chair

Chinese people value good luck and are therefore particular about wedding details. For example, the bridegroom is supposed to remove the bride's covering with the beam of a steelyard to wish happiness. On their bed, people put red dates(红枣 hóng zǎo), peanuts(花生 huā shēng), longan(桂圆 guì yuán) and lotus seeds(莲子lián zǐ), the Chinese characters of which, when combined, have the same pronunciation as the phrase "giving birth to a child at an early date"(早生贵子zǎo shēng guì zǐ). The new couple also drink wine from each's cups as a wish for eternal love. As part of a traditional wedding, young people come to the couple's room to make fun of the bride and bridegroom, asking them to recount their love stories or play some games. This adds a lot of fun to the nuptial ceremony.

Compared to traditional wedding, modern wedding, which incorporate many western elements, are far simpler.