Wedding traditions in China - preparation for the celebration and celebration. Chinese wedding traditions

23.06.2019

For those who want to be different from everyone who sleeps and sees unusual ceremonies, who cannot bear the thought that their own wedding can be boring and "lifeless". Especially for those who are looking for something special and want to fill their wedding with unusual turns of events - for you a brief excursion into the history of wedding traditions in China. Use on health!

Fortune telling by card

Before the matchmaking takes place, the groom had to send the bride's family a preliminary note-card indicating the eight hieroglyphs of life. The name of the groom was written in it, as well as the year, month, day and hour of his birth. According to these data, a fortune-telling ceremony was carried out, and in the event of a favorable outcome, the same data, only about the bride, were sent to the groom's family. If nothing bad happened during the three days when the card was in the house, they agreed to the marriage.

The snake and the tiger cannot be together!

Great importance was attached to the twelve-year animal cycle. Unfavorable couples were considered young, born in (the first year of the groom, the second of the bride) the year of the horse and the bull, the snake and the tiger, the rat and the ram, the chicken and the dog. The position of the birth years of the young in the cycle of five elements was also taken into account: water, wood, earth, metal and fire. The key to a long family life was the dominant location of the groom's year of birth in at least one of these cycles. Sometimes lovers had to go to the deception, changing the date of birth of the bride, just to be together.

marriage contract

In China, there was a kind of modern marriage contract. Mutual marriage guarantees should be written on red paper, for the bride with the image of a phoenix, for the groom - a dragon. The content of the contract included information about the bride and groom and their families, plus the amount of the ransom paid for the bride was prescribed.

Acquaintance of parents

The day of the conclusion of the marriage contract also serves as the day of the acquaintance of the parents. According to tradition, the acquaintance took place in the bride's house. Before going inside, the groom's parents would worship in front of the family altar. Usually, in front of the house, the figures of the “hare of happiness” and “fish of happiness” were always exhibited. This was followed by a joint meal and drinking a cup of wine, symbolizing a long life. It was customary for the groom to give two peas. Upon returning home, he had to put them in water and then eat them. It was believed that this led in the future to the appearance of a large family.

mourning

The Chinese are very sensitive to marriage and to the institution of the family in general. Therefore, before the wedding, it is believed that the bride should mourn the loss of her family and friends. To do this, they all go somewhere together, and the girl is given time to say goodbye to them. You might think that this tradition is somewhat similar to modern bachelorette parties. But, in fact, this is a more sad and touching ceremony. The bride says goodbye to her loved ones in order to now completely belong to her husband. This can not be compared with what happens at fun bachelorette parties.

"Tea gift"

On the day of the wedding, the groom brings gifts to the bride's house, again wrapped in red cloth. Basically, these are gold coins for the bridesmaids to let the bride out of the house. Often the gift includes a pair of earrings and four bracelets. It is called "tea" due to the fact that for the Chinese tea is a symbol of marital fidelity and fertility. This tradition was adopted by many peoples of the world. Moreover, as a kind of ransom, they take both money and many other gifts. The pre-wedding ceremony includes one more rite. After the ransom, the bride and groom kneel before their parents, offering them tea. Thus, they ask them for permission to marry.

wedding procession

The wedding "train" usually looked like this: it started off from the bride's house, at the head were the groom's representatives with torches on which the groom's family symbol was engraved. Then there were two representatives of the bride with red umbrellas in their hands. The bride herself was carried in a red palanquin, and her assistant in green. The middle of the way was marked by the ceremony of handing over the bride into the hands of the groom's men. At the groom's house, the bride was greeted with fireworks. After that, a fire was kindled, through which the palanquin was carried.

Wedding on the rise

China has a strong belief in astrology. Therefore, the date of the wedding is chosen according to the astrological calendar. Another important attribute - the marriage ceremony should take place in the second half of the hour, that is, in the second thirty minutes. The fact is that the arrows at this time rise up, thus symbolizing the beginning of family life on the rise. Getting married in the first thirty minutes means starting a life together on a decline.

Wedding cake

The most important feature of a Chinese wedding cake is its size. Usually the cake is brought into the hall during the welcoming speech to the guests. His appearance is almost the most important and memorable part of the entire festive part of the wedding. The cake must necessarily consist of a huge number of steps. This symbolizes a kind of ladder from the beautiful today to a happy future. Therefore, the cake must be so large that the future is long and cloudless. The bride and groom must feed each other with pieces of cake, so that they seem to go through the steps of living together together.

Bride's attire

Lucky Chinese brides! The fact is that during the entire ceremony they change at least three outfits. So they do not have to choose between two beautiful dresses, they can buy three of them, or even more. The day before the ceremony, she was instructed to try on the outfit sent by the groom, and also to pluck out all the hair on her face (renew herself). Since women in China tend to wear a lot of make-up, whiten their face and apply bright lipstick, the absence of hair is not so noticeable. The outfit itself is a short red robe embroidered with flowers and colored silk pom-poms, and a dress (also preferably red, but sometimes green). On the head was a special headdress in the form of a metal frame, decorated with bird feathers and medallions. A silk veil fell over her face.

The wealth of the ceremony

The Chinese are famous for some of the richest wedding receptions. The fact is that guests are invited to taste from eight to ten dishes per evening. There’s just nothing here, it’s not clear just who can eat all this! The main ritual dish is millet porridge with butter. By the way, before the wedding, the bride had to taste the meat of a pig and a rooster, sent to her by the groom's family the day before.

Smotriny

The strangest and a little rude tradition is the bride after the wedding. The fact is that at that moment the guests were allowed to enter the room of the young, where the girl was sitting, discussing her aloud and even saying any obscene things. Moreover, the bride was strictly forbidden to react to this in any way. The young husband managed to get rid of the "obtrusive" guests only with money.

Union of bowls

When the young people were brought into the house, they sat on the bed for some time without uttering a single word. By the way, the bride was ordered to remain silent throughout the wedding, allegedly this contributed to the appearance of offspring. After that, they were given two glasses tied with a red ribbon, in which there was wine or tea. Young people drank from them, then changed and again took a sip, and then poured each other into glasses and drank again. This ceremony was called "unity of bowls."

marriage bed

The preparation of the marriage bed in the groom's house is a whole ceremony, accompanied by a large number of different traditions. Five coins were to be glued under the bed, issued during the reign of five different emperors. Five canonical bundles with boiled rice were also hung there. Parascissors, small scales, a tiny mirror, a bow and arrows were supposed to lie on the bed. The groom shot these arrows into different corners of the room on the wedding day, thus driving away evil spirits. In addition, one of the unmarried younger brothers had to sleep in the bed of the newlyweds before their wedding. It was believed that the bride's bed should not be empty.

Perhaps many Chinese traditions will seem outdated to you, but, you see, there is something to learn here for a modern wedding ceremony. In addition, in addition to those presented, the Chinese wedding is surrounded by many more traditions and rituals. So you can take the most interesting ones to diversify your own marriage. And to feel the taste of a real Chinese wedding - go to Hainan Island for a symbolic ceremony.

A wedding in China is not just a solemn event, it is a huge responsibility that a young man takes on. Therefore, the organization and conduct of wedding ceremonies are treated with increased attention. It is not enough for a Chinese groom to make an offer and get the consent of the bride.

Young people must observe all existing traditions. This also applies to matchmaking, and engagement, and solemn registration, which is often held after the wedding banquet. A Chinese wedding is held in compliance with ancient rites. For each ritual, there are special rules and procedures, non-observance of which can nullify all the efforts of the young and their relatives.

As in other countries, in China, the wedding is preceded by the matchmaking of the groom and the engagement, which is attended by a large number of invited guests and relatives.

When choosing a bride for their son, the young man's parents make inquiries about the composition of her family, the position in society of each of its members, and the well-being of the bride's parents. This is done by the matchmaker, without whom matchmaking and engagement are impossible.

During his visit to the house of the bride's parents, the matchmaker talks about the virtues of the groom and his ancestors, asks questions about the age and health of the girl. You can show how financially secure the family is by setting the table and decorating the room.

The intentions and success of the groom and his relatives are evidenced by the tdars given to the girl's house.

However, matchmaking began with the provision of the bride's family with complete data about the young man:

surname;
date and time of birth;
what does the horoscope say about his character;
seniority among brothers and sisters.

Having studied the information received, the bride's family (with a positive decision) through the matchmaker passed on to the relatives of the future groom everything that concerned the girl. Having combined the horoscopes of the young, they chose and appointed the wedding day.

In each house there is an altar on which you need to put the received letters and wait for three days. If nothing bad happens at this time (illness, death, quarrel), then everything is going well, and the spirits favor the couple. After numerous fortune-telling, a date was set for the meeting of the parents of the bride and groom.

The young man received as a gift two peas, which had to be soaked in water and eaten after a couple of days in order to provide himself with numerous healthy offspring.

Wedding preparations

Preparing for the wedding requires careful selection of gifts that the groom sends to the bride's family. The bride's parents are busy collecting dowry and invitation gifts. It can be sweets, nuts, delicious original dishes, fruits.

Having made inquiries and received accurate, reliable information about the bride and her relatives, the groom's parents begin to carry out six important stages of preparation for the wedding:

First of all, ambassadors carrying gifts are sent to the house of the bride's parents.
The second step is to request the name and surname of the bride, her position in seniority among brothers and sisters.
Now the bride's parents confirm their consent to the marriage.
To secure the contract, a second, more substantial gift is sent from the groom's house to the bride's house.
Using the information received about the date and time of the bride's birth, drawing lots, the groom's relatives choose the most favorable day for concluding a marriage union.
Only after all this is the first personal meeting of the bride and groom allowed.

The meeting of the young people takes place in the house of the bride's parents, where the groom comes accompanied by a matchmaker and close relatives. This moment, in fact, is considered a wedding.

In front of the bride's house and inside, everything is decorated with red paper lanterns and canvases, attracting happiness to the family and showing others how joyful the wedding day will be.

Holding a celebration

On the day of the wedding, everything in the house of the parents of the girl is decorated with red canvases, symbolizing happiness.

It is not customary to use attributes of white color at wedding celebrations. This is due to the fact that white is a symbol of mourning and sadness. According to ancient tradition, before marriage, the bride must mourn the departed relatives.

Before the wedding, a sign with a single hieroglyph denoting happiness is hung over the door in the girl's house. Above the door to the young man's house on the plate is a double hieroglyph.

It means that after the guy brings his young wife into the house, there will be twice as much happiness in him.

The wedding ceremony begins with the groom offering a tea gift to the bride's parents. After the bridesmaids accept the ransom from the groom, he, on his knees, asks the girl's parents to accept the tea gift and agree to the marriage.

The ransom offered to the girl's girlfriends consists of:

gold coins;
four bracelets;
a pair of earrings.

In addition, the number of gifts includes those items that the newlyweds themselves have chosen in advance. A young man sends a wedding palanquin to the girl's house, in which the bride will go to the house of her future husband.

The wedding procession follows on foot, and the heroine of the holiday does not leave the palanquin, so as not to stain her shoes and not bring dust and dirt to her husband's house.

A procession is moving, accompanied by musicians. Loud sounds of music and crackers, fireworks scare away evil spirits and provide protection to future newlyweds.

In the courtyard of the house, where the girl is met by the groom's family, there is a small table. The bride and groom approach him to notify the Gods of the birth of a new family, they swear an oath of allegiance to each other, kneel down three times, bowing to heaven, earth, parents, and the bride brings a cup of tea to the groom's mother.

After that, the marriage was considered concluded. In the old days, they believed that if the bride remained silent throughout the holiday and did not touch the treat, then she would be able to give birth to many healthy and strong sons.

Despite the fact that modern Chinese women prefer European-style weddings, certain traditions are strictly observed today:

Be sure to decorate the premises using red.
Guests and heroes of the occasion are served sweet wine (a symbol of happiness and fertility).
The bride's wedding attire is complemented by a headdress with a picture of a phoenix.

Still, most Chinese girls try to observe the traditions of their ancestors and perform ancient rituals.

At such weddings, a huge multi-stage wedding cake is served, not a cake, the celebration is held no less than a month before the solemn registration of marriage, the newlyweds and their friends are dressed in red suits.

After the wedding

The traditional Chinese wedding continues until the elders lead the newlyweds to the bedroom, where the bed is prepared for them.

A towel should lie on the sheet, which will become evidence of the innocence of the newlywed. Convinced that the girl was really innocent, the newly-minted mother-in-law sends a letter to the mother of the bride with confirmation and gratitude.

The first day after the wedding celebration, the young people devoted themselves to the worship of their ancestors, without leaving the house of their husband's parents. The couple spent time in prayers, appeals to the spirits of the ancestors and the Gods. On the second day after the wedding, the newlyweds in different palanquins go to visit the wife's parents.

Here the young man is waiting for various tests, which he must pass.

This will give confidence to all relatives that the young man will be able to become a worthy husband, raise and educate healthy and smart children.

Among the tests, the young husband will be asked to:

eat a piece of meat poured with hot sauce;
drink sour wine;
do any work assigned by the father-in-law.

After everything is done and the girl's relatives are satisfied, the newlyweds go to their place.

This video shows how a wedding takes place in China with national traditions and rituals:

Having become a wife, a Chinese woman has no right to spend the night outside her husband's house. And how do you feel about such a celebration and the customs of this people?

Chinese wedding

In ancient China, marriage took a very long time, as it was accompanied by a very complex set of rituals.

The traditional Chinese wedding has now undergone significant changes. But, however, the rites and rituals around the marriage proposal, the engagement, gifts to the bride's parents, the wedding ceremony - everything is deeply symbolic.

As a rule, in China, the attitude to the wedding was and is very serious.

First of all, the Chinese check the compatibility of the young according to the horoscope. So many girls are now looking for husbands. If the readings of the horoscope suit the family, then gifts are sent from the groom's family to the bride's family. This is followed by the exchange of marriage guarantees and, finally, the conclusion of a marriage contract. And in ancient China, marriage contracts were very common. The wedding is scheduled for the end of the year, and in order to determine the date more precisely, they again turn to the horoscope. And there is always an answer. Moreover, they choose not only a specific day, but also a specific time - it is desirable that the wedding begin in the second half of the hour, when the clock hands are directed upwards, that is, in the direction of prosperity, wealth and good luck.

On the eve of the wedding, feasts are arranged in the houses of the bride and groom, in which invited relatives and friends take part.

On the day of the wedding, the bride dresses up in the morning for the ceremony of moving into the house of her future husband. She says goodbye to her parents and other relatives.

According to Chinese traditions, the bride must have three dresses: a white dress with a veil is worn during the wedding ceremony, the second is a traditional Chinese wedding dress for the banquet, and the last dress is the departing bride's dress before leaving the banquet.

Now in Chinese weddings, one, the most important tradition has been preserved - the use of red.

Even if today a Chinese bride decides to flaunt in a European white dress, she will still put on red shoes on her feet and take a red umbrella in her hands. In addition, the hall for the celebration will be decorated in red colors. The cortege is also decorated with red flowers. For the Chinese, red is a symbol of love, prosperity and happiness. Wedding accessories, such as invitations, gifts, envelopes, and even the bride's wedding dress, are decorated in a red palette.

Photos for the wedding album are not taken on the wedding day, but in advance, sometimes even a month or two in advance. On the day of the celebration, guests can already see the finished album of the bride and groom.

The wedding procession from the groom's house goes to the bride's house to pick her up. But the bride is not given away so easily.

The bride's friends and relatives can only give her away for a fee. And the groom has to redeem the bride by giving them red envelopes (hong bao) with money.

On the day of the wedding, a tea ceremony takes place, at which the bride is officially introduced to the family members of her future husband.

A significant place in a Chinese wedding is occupied by a banquet. The festive menu usually consists of 12 courses, including delicacies such as roast pig and shark fin soup, fish, red butter chicken, lotus seed bread, pigeons and lobster. This food brings prosperity, harmony and success.

In the Chinese family, parents are treated with great respect. At the wedding, they are the most important people. Usually, parents sit at a separate table, and the bride and groom turn to them several times with words of gratitude.

By the way, in a restaurant in China they do not walk for long - after the wedding it is not customary to stay up late.

The couple's parents usually donate a new bed with a set of linens. Before the wedding, the young nephew must jump on the bed for good luck to the newlyweds in the birth of offspring.

Relatives and friends give envelopes with money. How much - everyone decides for himself, but the main thing is that there is a number 8 - a favorable sign.

The Chinese are great originals in inventing wedding scenarios.

Wedding celebrations can take place in a store, in nature, on a river, on a bus. Such spectacular events are remembered for a lifetime.

In China, a "Marriage Law" has been established, according to which men over the age of 22 and women under the age of 20 have the right to marry and obtain a marriage certificate from the relevant competent authority. This is how their legal marital relationship is established.

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Ancient wedding traditions in different provinces of China differed significantly from each other. This is due to the multinationality of the Celestial Empire. But there are a few of the most common and well-established customs. Do you want to know how weddings are held in China? Wedding.ws will help you with this.

Chinese matchmaking

A Chinese wedding is not complete without matchmakers. According to the ancient custom, the matchmaking ceremony includes the following steps:

The groom's father sends matchmakers to the bride's parents. According to tradition, the groom should give the bride a goose as a gift, as a symbol of a marriage proposal. If the answer is positive, then the matchmakers again go to the girl's house with gifts, and in return receive information about the bride.
The Chinese have always paid much attention to horoscopes, divination and numerology. Therefore, based on the information received, a favorable day for the wedding was calculated. It is believed that it is better to choose an even number, which means double happiness.
The groom must pay a bride price. As a ransom, you need to bring money, sweets and wine to the girl's house. In return, the bride must present the clothes to the groom's relatives.
The last stage of matchmaking is the agreement of the date of marriage and all related issues.

Chinese-style wedding: features of traditional preparation

Previously, in addition to traditional wedding chores, the Chinese bride had to perform several rituals. It was believed that the bride needed to cry before the wedding so that she would not have to shed tears in her married life. This ritual is combined with farewell to family and friends. Not to be confused with a bachelorette party, which is inherent in European wedding traditions. After all, this is a very sad and touching ceremony. On the eve of the celebration, it was necessary to conduct a ritual of bathing the bride. Healing herbal decoctions and grapefruit juice were added to the water. This rite symbolizes cleansing from evil spirits.

According to an old tradition, the girl removed all the hair from her face - she completely plucked her eyebrows and eyelashes. This symbolizes renewal before the start of a new life.

On the day of the wedding, at the entrance to the bride's house, a sign with a hieroglyph, which means happiness, is hung out. And at the entrance to the groom's house, a double such hieroglyph should hang, since with the advent of his wife he will become doubly happier. By the way, this custom is still popular today.

bridal dress in china

Chinese wedding attire deserves special attention. In China, red is considered a symbol of love and happiness. According to tradition, the bride should be dressed in a red silk robe, decorated with embroidery, beads and pearls. Flowers are embroidered on the outfit, as well as images of a dragon and a phoenix. These are sacred animals that symbolize a man and a woman.

Chinese wedding traditions suggest a special headdress for a girl. This is a large phoenix crown decorated with beads, traditional medallions, bird feathers and pompoms. But all this beauty, along with the face of the bride, is hidden behind a thick red veil.

Given the characteristics of a modern wedding, such a headdress is used less and less. Today, Chinese brides can afford to wear a modern dress to a wedding, but still many prefer red outfits, as white is traditionally considered a symbol of mourning.

Traditional wedding ceremony

According to tradition, the groom takes the bride from her house and takes her to his. At the same time, the wedding procession does not stop anywhere and is accompanied by explosions of firecrackers and fireworks. Loud noises are believed to ward off evil spirits.

Marriage consists of three ceremonies:

Worship.
Unity of bowls.
Tea ceremony.

At the beginning, the couple performs a rite of worship. They need to kneel three times, bowing to the earth and sky, to their parents and old-timers of the family, and then to each other.

The union of the bowls is a ceremony during which the newlyweds drink special wine from bowls tied with a scarlet ribbon. The newlyweds take a few sips and then exchange bowls.

A Chinese-style wedding is not complete without a tea ceremony, during which the bride treats the groom's relatives with traditional tea. In return, they give her gifts or money in a red envelope.

Chinese style wedding: banquet and gifts

The traditional wedding in China differs significantly from the celebration we are used to. This also applies to the banquet.

The feast begins with the official part, during which guests have the opportunity to say congratulations and present gifts. The banquet does not last long. At the same time, dances and noisy competitions are not arranged at a Chinese wedding.

Today, for various reasons, newlyweds abandon many ancient traditions and rituals, but a wedding in China is still an unusual, bright and original celebration.

On the site site you will find a lot more interesting things about the traditions of other peoples, for example, about how a gypsy wedding takes place. You can find interesting ideas for your own wedding.

Talking about wedding traditions in China is not easy. This is a multinational state, and each nationality, in each province, has its own distinctive rites and ceremonies, which are very different from each other. Even among representatives of the main nationality of China - Han, living in different provinces, in the north and in the south, ceremonies can be very different.

In the ancient Celestial Empire, there were many complex ceremonies, almost every action was meaningful and strictly regulated. From the customs of antiquity, the so-called “Six Rites” are known, which began with the engagement and ended with the wedding: sending the first gift to the bride’s house as a sign of engagement, requesting the name (or surname) of the bride, notifying the bride’s family by the groom’s parents of consent to marriage, sending to the house the bride of a gift that confirms the engagement, a request to the bride's family about an auspicious wedding day, and, finally, a personal meeting of the groom with the bride in her house.

As a rule, in the old days, business could not do without a good matchmaker. There is a saying: “If there are no clouds in the sky, there will be no rain. If there is no matchmaker on earth, there will be no love.” At first, the groom's father sent matchmakers to the bride's house. If they received consent, messengers were sent again, already with gifts.

After that, the second ceremony began: the messengers of the groom thoroughly recognized and recorded the name and surname of the father, mother and maiden, her order of seniority among brothers and sisters, date of birth. All this information was needed in order to, upon returning, calculate the “favorable” date of the wedding, as well as draw lots whether the marriage would be happy. If the result was favorable, they proceeded to the third rite: notifying the bride's family about this.

The groom then sent gifts to the bride's house. The richer the gifts, the better, here it was important not to lose face. After that, messengers were sent to the bride's house to perform the ceremony of requesting an auspicious wedding day. In fact, the date had already been chosen by the groom's family, and the ceremony was simply a tribute of courtesy and respect towards the bride's family. As a rule, an even number was chosen, symbolizing "double happiness". And finally, the sixth ceremony - the wedding itself, when the groom, who arrived at the bride's house, could see her for the first time.

There were also the following wedding traditions, some of which have survived to this day.

A beautifully designed paper tablet with the hieroglyph “Si” (happiness) was hung at the entrance: in the girl’s house the hieroglyph is single, and in the boy’s house it is double, since it was believed that the groom brings the bride to live in his parents’ house, and happiness doubles.

For the wedding, the bride's parents had to prepare a dowry and "invitation gifts", which could contain food or boxes of nuts and sweets.

The groom sent a wedding palanquin to the bride's house and accompanied him himself, while the girl was dressed in a wedding dress. Traditionally, it should be red - in China, it symbolizes happiness. White in Asian countries is the color of mourning, because in ancient times it was unacceptable at the wedding ceremony. The bride's hair was carefully styled, her face was painted, and a wedding dress in the form of a phoenix was put on her head.

The dragon and phoenix, two mythical characters, symbolize the bride and groom, the man and the woman, and the emperor and empress. The same image of a phoenix was supposed to decorate a wedding cape, and often it was also embroidered on a dress. In turn, the groom's clothes were decorated with the image of a dragon. Then the girl's head was covered with a special red veil.

To the music and loud explosions of crackers, the groom arrived at the house of the bride's parents, bowed to them, gave the proper gifts and put the bride in a palanquin. On the way, the girl was supposed to cry about the house and her parents, whom she now left for a new family life. Often, the bearers deliberately rocked and shook the palanquin too much to make her cry, so it was not uncommon for the bride to bribe them not to do so.

When the wedding procession arrived at the groom's house, they were again greeted by crackers and music. The bridesmaids threw back the curtain of the palanquin, helped the bride get off and escorted into the house, and the groom's friends handed out wedding flowers or an image of the hieroglyph "double happiness" to all participants in the ceremony, which must be pinned to clothes or inserted into hair.

This was followed by a bowing ceremony. At the command of the wedding manager, the newlyweds bowed to heaven and earth, to their ancestors, parents and each other. It was also necessary to bow to the elder of the family and the guests. Then the bride and groom drank a cup of wine together, arms crossed, and tied each other with a long red ribbon. Both of them symbolized that from now on the young are connected with each other and represent a single whole. It all ended with a hearty meal. And only when alone with the bride, the groom threw back the veil and finally could see the face of his young wife.

Today, many traditions have been lost, many have been transformed in a new way, with the advent of globalization, local rites have merged with European ones, forming a new, modern wedding ceremony, in which there are no longer such strict regulations, but some regularity in conduct is still visible. The scope of the celebration depends on the well-being of the families of the newlyweds.

The wedding is scheduled not on the day of registration, but on a convenient date, most often on a weekend or holiday. Often this is again a “happy date” chosen by parents or “knowledgeable” relatives. It should be added here that the Chinese are for the most part "omnivores" in the matter of religion, in classical literature one can often find examples when, say, both Taoist and Buddhist monks are invited for a prayer service for the recovery of one of the family members. Many do not see anything wrong with praying to all the gods at once, just in case.

In China, there are many Catholic and Protestant believers who get married in temples, but in recent years, Catholic and Protestant wedding ceremonies, as elements of Western culture, have become fashionable, and many have resorted to them in search of romance and prestige.

The absence of Orthodox priests of Chinese nationality in the country makes such an attitude towards an Orthodox wedding obviously impossible, but even then, Orthodoxy in China is still not so well known and popular as to become fashionable. Of course, this approach is not found in everyone and not always, but often the wedding is considered only as a theatrical action, as one of the many points of a rich wedding program. However, even more often do without it at all.

A few months before the wedding, it is customary to order a colorful wedding photo album resembling a portfolio, as well as several large artistic photographs of the bride and groom, in a photo studio. One of them will decorate the wall in the bedroom of the young, and the other will be hung in the restaurant where the celebration is scheduled, in the form of an invitation poster that will greet guests.

Often in beautiful parks, by the sea or in ancient estates, you can see smart newlyweds who are photographed by a professional photographer. But this is not the wedding day yet, but only photography, and the outfits of the bride and groom are also not their own, but provided by the photo studio. And on the very day of the wedding, the young must change three outfits, already their own or rented.

On the morning of the celebration, the girl and her friends dress up in a wedding dress. Most often it is white, familiar to the European gaze. The groom takes the bride from the parents' house, puts in the car, as a rule, a red or white limousine, and takes a walk with the guests; More precisely, the wedding procession, without stopping, travels around the most beautiful places in the city or town, and arrives at the restaurant, where everything is ready for the celebration.

Tables are set, inscriptions with the hieroglyphs “double happiness” are hung, the groom’s friend (sometimes he is also the wedding manager) distributes flowers to the guests and holds a box in which those who come should put money as a gift. Among the guests in the forefront are the parents of the bride and groom, as well as the authorities from the work of the newlyweds and various “necessary” people. Relatives sit at tables further away.

And now everyone is assembled, the young people arrived, the guests took their places at the tables of the banquet hall, but it will not be lucky to eat the wedding treat soon, and you need to be patient: there is a long official part of the celebration ahead. At the invitation of the wedding coordinator, the bride and groom enter the stage. There is a ceremony of bows and presentation of gift red envelopes containing money or bank cards. An element of respect for the authorities is added to the list of bows indicated above.

Next, the wedding planner will give the floor to the parents of the bride and groom, then close relatives, and of course, all important guests: bosses and "wedding generals" who will make solemn congratulatory speeches, and hungry young people will stand motionless on the stage, smile and pretend joy.

When the official part is over, no less hungry guests will finally be served food. Young people will change clothes twice more, now they will be wearing different outfits, which are a variation on the theme of traditional clothes adopted in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

However, the bride and groom will not be able to relax and eat here either. While the guests are eating festive dishes, they will go around the tables so that everyone has the opportunity to make their toast and drink a glass of wine or a glass of rice vodka with the heroes of the day.

The subsequent program depends on the unlimited imagination of the friends of the bride and groom or invited entertainers, and this is not much different from what the Russians are used to. The most popular form of entertainment is karaoke. But dancing in China is not customary. And the wedding cake traditional for Europeans, although it came into fashion, still did not become generally accepted, and as a dessert they often serve just fruits or some dry cakes and sweets.

As for me personally, our wedding consisted of two parts: our registration, wedding and main celebrations took place in Russia, and in China, due to the illness of my mother-in-law, we limited ourselves to a very modest celebration in a narrow family circle, but I don’t regret it at all. It seems to me that the Chinese ceremonial, even in its modern lightweight version, I simply could not stand it. But still, one cannot but agree that a Chinese wedding is a very original, bright, colorful action that does not leave anyone indifferent.