On the Difference with Traditional Wedding between Chinese and Western

張蕾

【Abstract】By the research of the Chinese and Western custom， culture and traditional wedding background， we can understand the west more and more. This text sets about from the aspects such as culture background of the wedding， wedding dress， custom， wedding characteristic. We can see the difference during Chinese and Western trend of young peoples wedding in the future. The background of the traditional wedding mainly comes from the difference of Chinese and Western culture， custom， Review the west； the bride wears the white uniform which is also a rich and powerful symbol.

【Keywords 】China， the west， culture background， custom， wedding characteristic

1 The culture analysis of marriage background

1.1The culture background of Chinas traditional marriage

In the traditional marriage， there are some ceremonies such as “three documents and six rites”， “three kowtows and nine prostrations”. Its said in Study in Five Rites（Wu Kao Tong Li ） that since the Later Qi Dynasty， whoever you are， the marriage should go through “Na Cai”， “Wen Ming”， “ Na Ji”， “Na Zheng”， “ Qing Qi”， “Qin Ying”. These are the six periods of old marriage commonly called “Six Rites”.

1.2 Cultural background of traditional western wedding

In western countries， there are such customs in the wedding as Something Old， Something New， Something Borrowed and Something Blue. Something Old refers to the wedding dress， headwear and hardware passed by the mother， which represent everything beautiful. Something new is the gifts from friends， for example， skirts and decorations， symbolizing new life. Something Borrowed means that one can borrow things from anyone. Its said that borrowing gold or silver from rich relatives and putting it in shoes may bring fortune. Something Blue means that the brides accouterment and flowers are blue， indicating chastity of the bride.

2 The difference of costume between in China and West

2.1 Chinese traditional wedding costume

China has many nationalities； they have plenty of viewpoints and habitudes on daintily choosing costume， but also have one common point as following： in the traditional Chinese wedding， bridegroom and bride should wear red full dress， which means that after marrying， the life of the new couple would be happy and lucky as wishes.

2.2 The traditional wedding costume of West

The west bride wears white wedding dress. Since Rome times， people looked white as the lucky color. From 1850 to 1900， in occidental peoples opinion， White also symbolized riches and honors. Since the beginning of the 20th century， white mostly means purity. Western people think that white has relationship with virginity. In ancient Rome times， bride wears white wedding dress， covering face with bright origin veiling， theses costume means the flame of reins of the bride.

3 Difference on some customs of Chinese and Western traditional wedding

The Chinese people are very conservative， and like the atmosphere of jubilation， with old-fashioned and inflexible thinking， so the whole wedding custom havent changed much in thousands of years of Chinese history. The Chinese traditional culture doesnt begin to transform to the western culture spread to the China， however， to a large extend it still maintain the ceremony and propriety of the Chinese traditional wedding custom. And the Chinese peoples characteristic which loves the jubilant atmosphere was fully represented in the Chinese traditional wedding custom.

4 Summary the difference between Traditional Chinese wedding and Western wedding

Western-style wedding is the romantic type， the whole wedding from beginning to end is full of the romantic aura .The brides dress is generally white， the groom is a black tuxedo， the whole wedding is solemn. Chinese-style wedding is different from western-style wedding； the main color of the wedding is red， which is representative of the traditional rousing colors. In summary， the wedding style difference is mainly from the different cultural background and historical background. Under the different thinking and customs slowly evolved. At the same time， under the influence of religion and mythology， a variety of customs and habits are forming in the small wedding.

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