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Published: September 20th 2009
Today Jack and I had the privelidge of attending a chinese wedding. as Jack was firends of the bride we were on her side of the weding so to speak.. This meant that we went to the hotel where Cai and her bridesmaid, girlfriends and parents were. we then had to lock the door and demand money from the groom and his party when they arrived and bashed on the door yelling, begging and shouting. It's a whole tradition that is really funny as people yell back and forth as money in little red envellopes are slipped under the door to persuade us to let them in. We make them pay heaps then fall back to the next door and the process is repeated again. Eventually we let them in and everyone laughs as they burst into the room to see the bride. There is a video crew and a compare who is narrating the whole thing from then on. he is really nice and has an excellent energetic personality - a cross between a wedding host and a tv game show guy.
Lots of bowing, some kisses and the boys must find where the brides golden shoes are hidden.
It all really fun and funny. Then there is a ceremony that is repeeated later two more times where the young couple stand before the parents and yell Ba Ba (Father) and Ma Ma (Mother) if the parents don't reply they have not accepted them as their new son/daughter and they must yelll again. eventually they say yes and they hug and acceptthem as their new child. This happened again later at the other parents house that we all drove too and also at the reception lunch.
The reception is a fully compared game show like atmosphese with lots of LOUD speeches by the compare with responses from many people involved. I was asked to give a talk as well as an international guest, and as I knew i wasn't getting out of it i started practicing my mandarin right away. i actually pulled it off and even managed a little joke that got a good laugh from my 300 audience (not bad for someone who's been speaking mandarin for 5 days). Anyway the meal was excellent, the people were lovely and friendly and the Bride and groolm looked and were great.
On reflection there are some things
GUN GIRL
This is a cool manga style banner hanging up near a bookstore on Jie fang Roadi really liked about the Chinese style wedding over the western. It seemed a lot more family based (not thyat westen ones aren't it was just more), the couple were a lot less stressed and really having a good time, there wasn't any alcohol except for when the bride and groom toasted with each table there was this 45% rocket fuel and once the meal was over everyone dissapeared and the happy couple were free to go. (Sidenote - they will be doing it again next weekend in the visiting parents town before another 750 guests !!!)
Oh yeah and the best bit - every time you went to go somewhere between locations for the whole day they let off a whole massive roll of firecrackers ! - so cool !
Tonight we went past millions of shops to the Bell Tower and Drum tower. now I've never wanted to own a motorbike before but i saw the coolest bikes ever. For 10 yuan ($1.80 au) you can look through the massive telescopes mounted on these motorbikes. Tonight i saw Juipiter up close for the first time in my life - damn this country is great.
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Michael
non-member comment
Hey Jon! It sounds like you guys are having an awesome time! I'm hell jealous. The wedding sounds pretty awesome. Keep the posts coming! It looks like you're getting some nice shots with Jack's camera, too. Very nice. Things here have been a little crazy. I'll fill you in when you get back.