traditional Chinese wedding customs

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Good morning, everyone. It’s my great honor to stand here to introduce you something about the traditional Chinese wedding customs.Ever since the ancient times, there has been a saying that the three most delightful moments in one's life come with success in the imperial examination, marriage and the birth of a son. During the Qin and Qing dynasty, the importance of getting married was far more than that a person found his better half. For the male side, it determined the prosperity and even the future fame of their family; while for the female side, it meant that parents lost the chance of seeing their daughter for a long time. Thus to choose an ideal partner was vital for both the individual and the family.There are eight major procedures of a wedding, including proposal making, birthday matching, marriage divination, betrothal gifts presenting, wedding date fixing, dowry urging, welcoming the bride to the wedding and performing the formal wedding ceremony.The procedure of birthday matching was the process in which the boy's family asked the matchmaker to go to the girl's family to enquire about her name and date of birth. Then, the boy's parents would send the girl's and their son's names and birthdates to a fortune teller for divining to see if the marriage between the two would be appropriate. The fortune telling of the luck of the marriage was what was called "marriage divination".If according to Chinese astrology the couple was compatible and both families agreed to the marriage, the boy's family would then send betrothal gifts to the girl's family. The betrothal gifts mainly included clothes, jewelries, gold, silver and cash etc. In addition, a gilded silver coin bearing the word "qiu" (meaning "proposal") was among the gifts. The girl's family would send back another coin bearing the word "yun" (meaning "agreed") among their gifts presented in return. Thus, the marriage was confirmed.Then, the two families would make arrangements for the wedding. When everything was ready, the boy's family would invite a fortune teller to choose a wedding date believed to bring the most luck to the couple based on the Chinese calendar mythology. After the date was fixed, the boy's family would send someone to inform the girl's family of it, which was part of the procedure of fixing the wedding date.During the period between the wedding date settlement and welcoming the bride, the boy's family would customarily urge the girl's family to send her dowry in for bridal chamber decoration, otherwise the wedding could not be held on schedule. After being urged, the girl's family would begin to prepare the dowry, which would be sent to the boy's family on a chosen date. The amount and quality of the dowry would determine the girl's future status in her husband's family.Welcoming the bride to the wedding and performing the formal wedding ceremony would be conducted on the same day, which was the climax of the whole wedding procedures. On the wedding day, the bridegroom's family would welcome the bride to the wedding in a bridal sedan accompanied by a wedding procession. With firecrackers exploding and band playing, the precession was anoisy and joyous show. As soon as the bride arrived at the groom's home, the couple would perform formal bows. The rituals were also called "bowing to Heaven and Earth", which were conducted to gain approval of the marriage from gods, divinities, ancestors as well as from parents, older generations, relatives and neighbors in the mortal world.In feudal society, a marriage would be decided not by a young couple's love, but by their parents' desires. Only after a matchmaker's introduction and when parents considered the two family conditions were similar and could be matched, would the marriage procedures go forward. Conditions that should be taken into consideration included wealth and social status. If a boy's family was well-off or an official family, his parents would never permit him to marry a girl from a poor family. Though the two couples may never heard of each other until the day they married, we can see from the pictures that most of them lived a happy life after marriage. I hope all of you can find the person you love most and spend your whole life together. And I think that many of you have found your Mr.Right or Mrs.Right.Thank you for your attention.。