Boasting a long history in the world, China is a country with colorful cultures. In ordinary people's life, from brith to death, each period can witness the tint of Chinese culture among which, the wedding, one of the most important moment in people's life, undoubtedly stands out. It is a day to forever tie the knots with your soulmate. It is a day you get rid of the state of being single. It is a day to burden the responsibility of being a wife/husband. 

In Chinese history, the Wedding Night, both with success in the government examination and a good rain after a long drougnt, is regarded as the most important times in one's life. With such attention to this time, the wedding procedure in ancient China has become complicated and rigorous.

Traditional wedding procedures in China is composed of three parts, namely engagement, preparation fro wedding and wedding ceremony.

Engagement

At first, the matchmaker, when having suitable candidates in hand, will bring the male to the female's home to see whether both of them are to each others' satisfaction. If both of them agree, then comes the procedure of consensual marriage, which means the eight characters about both parties' birthday should be tested to see whether they are suitable to be together. And if the answer is yes, the male should give betrothal gifts to the female, and they become betrothed couple. The betrothal gifts should include gift list, gifts and monetary gifts. The more the betrothal gifts are, the more importance the male attaches to the female.

Preparation for wedding

All the former procedures means that the two young fellows are engaged and next they can prepare for their wedding. The first and formost step is the installation of the bed. Several days before the wedding ceremony, the bed for the bride and bridegroom should be installed. The quilt embroidered with dragon and phoenix are well laid on the bed with peanuts, red dates, longan and lotus seeds, which means soon giving birth to a precious kids in Chinese. And on the day before the wedding day, the bride's dowry should be sent to the bridegroom's family

Wedding ceremony

Finally comes the wedding ceremony. Before the bride gets on the bridal sedan chair bound for her new home, she should cry to how her unwillingness to leave her parents. And the bridegroom should escort the bride to his house on a horse. After they reach their new house, they perform the formal bows to show their respect to the god and parents, also them each other. Then the bride is sent to the bridal room. People usually crowd into play games there.

Although nowadays, the wedding ceremony has tend to be westernized, the precious tradition should be well-preserved as it is priceless treasure for every Chinese people. Nevertheless, there are still some places in China performing this old custom and it is interesting and pleasant to attend such a wedding ceremony.