Marriage in China

Marriage in China

Introduction

Ever since 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. From the Qin (221 BC - 206 BC) to Qing (1644 - 1911) Dynasties, the feudal system dominated over two thousand years. During this period, 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.

Discussion

What has been happening in major countries of Asia that the marriages are not decided by the couple, but it is decided by their parents. A mother is usually responsible to find a bride for the groom, and the bride that is to be found is usually the one that matches the requirement of the groom. With time this system has changed up to a great extent, but there are still countries in Asia where these laws of parents finding the wife for a man and finding a husband for a woman are still followed. What usually happens in china is that the parents find the lady looking at her family and matching the standard and the status of the family to theirs, and if the match is perfect, the marriage is allowed and celebrated. The major conditions that are taken in to account before the marriage is set up between the two families are wealth and social status. Usually if one side of the family is quite opposite of the other, the marriage wont taken place, but it might take place on a very little scale.

China has their own way of organizing a marriage like other countries, but with organizing the marriage, there is also a format that they follow before the marriage takes place.

Three Letters and Six Etiquettes

The three letters were the betrothal letter, the gift letter with a gifts list and the wedding letter used on the day the bridegroom met his bride at her home.Proposing

When the boy's family is satisfied with the conditions of the girl's family, and both of the families are in a mutual consent for the marriage to take place, the boy's family proposes the girls side requesting the family to give out the hand of their daughter in the hand of their son. This is the first that takes place in the marriage set up process. Usually this step takes place after long intensive research. Usually it takes about a year for a family to find out the girl that they want for their sons. It may seem easy for a parent to find a girl for their son, but usually it's not because the boy might reject a couple of options, but the search goes on till the perfect match is made.

Birthday Matching

After the step of ...