My First Chinese Wedding!

Among other things this weekend, I had the privilege to attend my first Chinese wedding! It was fascinating to observe and be a part of the celebration, and a great time to spend with my friend who invited me.

My friend and her father picked me up at 8:00 a.m., and we drove over to the bride's parents' home. The bride was sitting on her bed in the closed room in an off-white wedding dress and no shoes, with lots of close friends and family surrounding her. A few minutes later, the groom came up; he waited while his friends pounded on her door, shouting for his bride to open the door.

They made him slip a hong bao (a red envelope filled with some money) under the door before he could enter, following tradition. When he entered the room, he found her shoes and put them on her feet. The groom officially asked the parents for their daughter's hand in marriage, and they consented and made some vows to their almost-son-in-law. After taking family pictures, we caravaned over to the couple's new home and spent a few minutes there, taking more pictures. At each stage of the trip, whether we were leaving or entering a new place, a whole string of firecrackers were lit, apparently to get others' attention, but mostly because of Chinese tradition.

(The groom putting the bride's shoes on her feet)

the firecracker remnants

the couple's new home...picture taking time in the master bedroom! I thought that was different, but apparently nobody else did!

the wedding procession - notice the camera man in the left lane

After this, the 300 or so of us went to a fancy hotel restaurant for the reception, where the gifts were exchanged (the bride received a ring, and gave a watch to her new husband), the vows made, and the kiss allowed while the onlookers counted down from 10 seconds. A meal was served with around 20 different dishes, including a black chicken, fish scales, and boiled pumpkin. Apparently weddings are a time for lots of alcohol consumption, so people were drinking and toasting quite a bit with their friends, which may explain some of the next part... :)

The emcee took quite a liking to me as the token foreigner, and really wanted me to dance on the stage while people were eating their dinner. The meal's entertainment turned out to be a sort of talent show, so people sang or danced on stage throughout the meal. I informed my extremely persistent new friend that I couldn't dance to Chinese music (or at all, for that matter!), and he assured me that it was okay. A few minutes later, however, he told me and my friend to go back to the DJ and see if there was any American music. I could see that I would at least have to go look, knowing that most likely they wouldn't have any, and hoping with all my heart that they didn't. I was relieved to find that they didn't, and informed him of my findings the next time he approached me. He again told me that it was okay, no problem. Later, in the middle of his own performance, he approached me again and asked if I would dance on stage to his singing. No, I'm sorry, I told him, for about the 47th time, I can't and won't dance today. He left and I thought to myself, he finally understands that I don't want to dance to Chinese music in front of an audience of 300 people. I continued eating my meal, listening to the afternoon's entertainment, each person announced by this relentless man.

I listened as much as I could to his speaking, trying to understand and expand my language. I couldn't understand everything, but I picked up enough to get the gist of what he was saying. As I listening at one point, he said something to the effect of, "Our next performance is going to be a dance from our guest from AMEERRICAA!" Everybody turned towards me, the only blond haired girl in the audience, and cheered; there was now no escape. They kept applauding, and I was dragged up to the stage. I reluctantly took the microphone because I preferred singing over dancing (along with most of the other performers). I sang a verse to the first song that came to my mind, a Switchfoot song, which, by the way, was completely different than anything they sang. My Chinese friend that brought me came up close to the stage to watch. Afterwards, the MC clapped along with the rest of the audience, and proceeded to tell them I was now going to dance!

MC and me before the reception began...little did I know what he was planning!

I looked at him, shocked that he was still trying to get me to dance! I knew my friend didn't want to dance either, so I told her English that I would dance if she did, thinking that she would be able to convince this man that neither of us wished to dance. Instead, she told me she would perform after me. That wasn't enough for me, though. The MC stood between us, trying to understand, asking her what I was saying. The audience stood watching us, silent, waiting for a decision. Back and forth we went for a minute or two, the MC asking my friend what I was saying. Finally, I realized, again, that there was no escape, so I turned to him and told him in Chinese that we were going to dance together! A huge grin broke out on his face, and thrilled, turned to the wedding participants, announced the plan. They cheered loudly as I dragged my friend up on stage, and we danced together to his beat in the background. Afterwards, we quickly returned to our seats to cheering in the background and enjoyed the rest of our meal.

When I was growing up, my mom always told us, "If you're going to laugh later, you might as well laugh now." There was a lot of laughing going on last Saturday!