From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Republic of China, our Chinese society has always been in a very contradictory and wonderful state.
Due to the national crisis caused by industrial backwardness, national self-confidence is declining day by day. It is difficult to believe that our five thousand years of cultural inheritance is valuable. Some people even go so far as to completely deny everything about us.
But in terms of daily life and life etiquette, people have a certain stubborn persistence in traditions and habits, otherwise they will become at a loss.
In general, it means that while new trends have emerged, old habits have not receded, the old and the new have alternated, and they have mixed and tolerated each other.
Therefore, in the real social environment of the Republic of China for decades, those who dared to be the first in the world and fully westernized, and those who were content to stay behind others and still persist in tradition, were only a minority.
This is the mystery of social psychology.
So when it comes to the specific projection of the wedding ceremony, which is one of the major events in life, the same is actually true - it is too trendy and I dare not try it. It is too outdated and I am afraid of people laughing at it.
Therefore, the wedding form that combines the old and the new, neither new nor old, came into being.
Even celebrities are not exempt from this wedding style that combines old and new.
Despite the fact that the famous ladies in those days turned to pursue the Western lifestyle, many people also wore trendy white wedding dresses when they got married.
However, just as the Japanese still cannot completely give up on shrine weddings, they still have a deep-rooted obsession with "Fengguanxiapei".
Just like the wedding between Mr. Sun of the Ma family, the richest man in the capital, and the daughter of the mayor of Peking.
Although the banquet was held at a hotel in Beijing, the wedding ceremony was still in Western style.
However, the bride who took the car to wear a wedding dress still took off her white wedding dress after completing the ceremony at the Beijing Hotel, put on a bright red traditional Kyrgyzstan dress, and covered her head with a hijab.
Witnessed by almost all the respectable people in the capital at that time, he was carried away in public by eight sedans. Starting from the capital hotel, with drums and music playing, he was swaggeringly carried through the city into Ma's Garden.
Another example is the famous lady Lin Huiyin. When she married Liang Sicheng, she insisted on wearing traditional Chinese clothes even though she was in a foreign land.
The Xialei can be omitted, but the phoenix crown must be included!
Lin Huiyin thought about it and decided that if foreign countries did not have the conditions, he would design it himself.
Although the final phoenix crown has long lost half of the "shadow" of the ancient phoenix crown, it was paired with Liang Sicheng's Western-style dress and became one of the most unique and elegant Chinese wedding dresses of that era.
Therefore, in fact, since the Republic of China, we have learned to adapt etiquette to the situation.
The so-called traditional Chinese wedding has experienced a collision with Western culture. Just like the changes in customs in the past dynasties, it has gradually changed into a different look since the Republic of China.
Even if the Chinese bride's phoenix crown is matched with the Western-style groom's Western-style dress, it will not be inconsistent.
Even this situation is the same in today's Chinese society.
In the era of reform and opening up in our country, after the door to the outside world was liberally opened.
In fact, the cultural mentality of young people in the mid-1980s is quite similar to that of people during the Republic of China to some extent.
Specific to the wedding ceremony, people have consciously started the process of simplifying and complex and restoring traditional values.
Often, brides in Beijing not only have to wear a wedding dress to take a wedding photo, but also wear red clothes to entertain guests when they get married.
On the other hand, the groom is much more relaxed and often only needs to wear a suit from beginning to end.
As for Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko's wedding today, it is almost the same.
In order not to appear depressed, but to be happy.
Not only in terms of clothing, today Ning Weimin did not wear a long robe or mandarin jacket, but only wore a black Chinese tunic suit to match Matsumoto Keiko's traditional Chinese Jifu.
Even when it came to the wedding procedures, they also sized up the situation and didn't have to keep things as they were. They acted completely according to the old etiquette of the past.
For example, according to pure old etiquette, a standard traditional wedding is actually such a process.
First of all, the bride must be picked up in a sedan chair.
Early in the morning, when the sedan was brought, it had to be unveiled at the door of the master's house.
Two yellow-painted benches were set up, and the sedan chair was propped up and placed on top for people to look at.
And there is more than one sedan chair.
For example, when a movie shows a wife getting married in the old days, there is often only one sedan. In fact, that is not right. Just one sedan is not enough!
Needless to say, the bride must have an eight-carat or four-carat red sedan chair, and the marrying wife and the bride-to-be wife must also have a four-carat or two-carat green sedan chair.
Along with the sedan chair were various deacons.
There are two umbrella players, two fans each, four flag players, gong players, drum players, suona players, and several trumpet players.
Therefore, the eight drums, ten flags, a pair of lamps, a pair of umbrellas, a pair of dragons, a pair of phoenixes, golden-clawed axes and stirrups, avoidance cards, and gongs for clearing the way were all placed at the door of the husband's house.
After almost all the guests had arrived, they started to ring in the room and send out sedan chairs.
It is carried by the head of the sedan chair, and when the sedan chair is sent out, drums and music are played together, and they are beaten in the wedding room.
After getting ready, the man then finds Quanheren, that is, a wife to marry, and then sends the sedan off after ringing in the house.
Usually the departure time is no later than ten o'clock, and the pick-up of the bride cannot be later than twelve noon.
Also, when the sedan arrives, the woman has to call the door. When the woman knows that the sedan is coming, she closes the door. This implies that the man is proposing.
At this time, as the married man, he has to "please" others, saying whatever is pleasant.
You also have to stuff the "red seals" one by one into the door. Inside the door, dozens of people think that the red seals are satisfied and will open the door when they have given enough.
After opening the door, the wedding wife and the bride-to-be wife met first.
There is only one place where snacks and tea are provided to entertain people who are welcoming relatives, but they usually just don’t eat.
After that, the newlyweds get on the sedan.
At this time, in addition to the trumpeter starting to play "A Hundred Birds Pay Attendance to the Phoenix", the bride should cover her head and hold a porcelain vase filled with five-color grain in her arms to show peace and prosperity.
The sedan still had to be carried into the yard, the curtains of the sedan were opened, and the door of the bride's house was directly closed to prevent the bride from seeing a ray of skylight outside.
When the bride was helped by the bride to sit on the sedan, the bride herself got into the green sedan, and the groom also got on the horse. He also had to ask the bride's two brothers to follow him, one on the left and one on the right of the sedan.
The so-called "pressing the sedan chair" means to prevent the sedan chair from going too fast and to allow the bride to sit firmly in the sedan chair.
There are also specialties in carrying a sedan chair.
In addition to everyone knowing that you have to walk in the middle of the road even if you play and beat, there also needs to be a conductor among the bearers at the front - the head of the sedan chair.
The head of the sedan is the first one. For example, if there is a pit on the left, it is called the left pit, and later on, you will know that there is a pit on the left.
You have to shout in your head, but you will know later that the steps of the bearers in front and behind are the same.
It definitely won't work if you step forward with your left leg and behind you with your right leg.
For example, in the movie "Red Sorghum" that Jiang Wen will be filming next year, he plays the role of Yu Zhan'ao, who is the head of the sedan chair.
He deliberately teased the bride by rocking the sedan chair, causing Jiuerhuang, played by Gong Li, to vomit. He was using his "authority" to cause trouble.
Of course, it was also because Jiuer had no brothers from her mother's family to accompany the sedan chair that she was bullied by the bearers.
Otherwise, my brothers would have to follow the sedan chair and lend ten courage to the sedan bearers, but they would not dare to do this.
And when the group of people arrived at the groom's house, the sedan fell flat, and after entering the courtyard, the sedan curtain did not open. The groom drew his bow and shot an arrow at the sedan to shoot away the demons and ghosts, and then he opened the curtain to let the bride in.
Come down.
However, after the bride came out, she was still covered with a veil. With the support of the bride and groom, she passed over the brazier and the saddle.
The brazier means red and hot, and the saddle means safe and sound, both of which are homophonic.
After entering, there is also the custom of sitting in the tent, sitting on the bed or Kang, drinking a cup of wine first, and then eating the descendants' cakes and longevity noodles.
There must be a child outside shouting, "Is there a baby or not?" and then the hijab can be removed.
After that, the newlyweds worship heaven and earth, relatives and friends, which is the so-called worship hall.
First, worship the ancestors, then worship the parents, then worship the matchmaker, they have all been worshiped, and now the ceremony is complete.
This is the process for the wedding day.
As shown in some movies and TV shows, the bride's hijab has to wait until the wedding at night before the husband can take it off.
That is probably an extremely long-standing feudal society, let alone modern society, and cannot be used in modern society at all.
Because as long as you think about it, you will realize how anti-human and unscientific it is.
Not to mention whether the groom can suppress his anxiety, nor whether the bride is depressed.
Let's just say that marriage was originally a marriage between two families, and the purpose of all the complicated ceremonies was to tell the world in a serious way that the man had married an innocent wife.
How could the bride not be allowed to meet her relatives and friends?
Don't let the servants in the house recognize your appearance?
If this is the case, and there is no need to strictly behave in front of relatives and friends in court, how many troubles will be caused?
All the relatives and friends who came to congratulate the bride couldn't even see her face, so wasn't the wedding ceremony all in vain?
How does everyone know who you married? Is it a man or a woman? Is it a human or a ghost?
Even the concubine's room is not so shameless.
So otherwise, just because of the changes of the times, the social situation is very different from the past.
Even with sufficient financial support, these old etiquette and rules must be changed according to the actual situation.
How can those vulgar customs that are feudal, inelegant, undignified, and unrealistic remain conservative?
If you don’t know how to adapt and copy everything, it will be unsightly and even become a joke, lowering the level of the wedding.
For example, let’s take this wedding reception. Nowadays, the highway is a road for cars. Is it possible to walk through the middle of the highway?
Then the traffic police should ask questions.
And the Pierre Cardon Hotel is far outside Jianguomen.
Let the team that picks up the bride carry the sedan and the ceremonial guard. If the traffic police don't cause trouble, then these people will be exhausted.
It's simply impossible.
Of course, the bride will suffer even more when she is sitting on a sedan chair. Even if no one praises her, she might end up like Jiu'er in "Red Sorghum".
Therefore, although there are steps of lighting up the sedan chair and getting on the sedan chair, they are very close.
After the convoy that picked up the bride left the alley, the sedan chair and the ceremonial guard were brought to the alley by people from Yunyuan.
After the convoy picks up the people, the convoy of wedding cars will park on the street outside the alley.
Then the customary move only started from the entrance of the alley, and the motorcade followed the procession of sedan chairs. This was an expedient move and a change made according to the actual situation.
Also, when sending off a bride, according to old rules, the bride’s parents do not go to the groom’s house to join in the fun.
When sending off the sedan chair, the groom will give a banquet to his father-in-law, called "Li Niang's Rice", and let them stay at his home to eat.
How is this possible?
Not to mention that Ning Weimin went all the way to invite Matsumoto Keiko’s parents from Japan to watch the ceremony.
Even if local people in the capital get married, no one does it now. It's so unkind.
Who is not born and raised by his parents? There is no reason for his parents to be absent from major life events.
There are also brides who cry when they go out, indicating that they are nostalgic for their parents and do not want to get married.
If someone wanted to do this in reality, it would be a disgrace to the scene, as if the man was some kind of villain who bullies men and dominates women.
In addition, locking the bride away after the wedding ceremony is considered to be "making love".
In line with the principle of "nothing big or small for three days", some of them are really noisy and can make the bride unable to cry, laugh, anxious or annoyed.
How could Matsumoto Keiko, a Japanese bride, be able to cope with this?
Ning Weimin would not give others the opportunity to tease his wife, and his father-in-law and mother-in-law would not agree. Of course, such a step must be avoided.
Otherwise, why is it important to keep pace with the times?
Otherwise, everything is not static?
This is why.
So actually, on this day, Ning Weimin went to pick up his bride, not only bringing a large bouquet of flowers with him.
In the wedding room on the 18th floor of the Pierre Cardon Hotel, only the etiquette of calling the door and sealing the door with a red seal were retained.
Ning Weimin picked up the largest banknote and stuffed it with six red envelopes, stuffed it into the house, bribed the children of Song Huagui and Zou Guodong's family, and easily opened the door.
When she got downstairs and got into the car, the bride didn't even cover her head.
Surrounded by everyone, she went downstairs holding a bouquet and wearing a beautiful Jifu. Under the envious eyes of many people, she and Ning Weimin got into the Mercedes-Benz of the wedding convoy, and even passed by Tiananmen and went around Nanchizi, and then around again.
Following the Forbidden City, we passed by Beihai and Jingshan Gate, and after a long circle, we arrived in front of Weijia Hutong Gate.
And true traditional etiquette only starts here.
This time it was different. Not only did Matsumoto Keiko wear a red hijab in the car, but she also didn't even touch the ground when she got into the sedan. Amidst the cheers and cheers, Ning Weimin forcibly carried her into the sedan.
When the bearer came up, closed the door, and mounted the roof, the inside of the sedan was almost completely dark for Matsumoto Keiko.
At this time, the Japanese director Yutaka Osawa and the cameraman, who were already ready, had actually started shooting.
Afterwards, the song "A Hundred Birds Pay Attention to the Phoenix" was played, followed by a sedan chair and a guard of honor, followed by a motorcade.
Even the crew members, the wedding team and the ordinary people who were watching all headed towards the gate of Yunyuan together.
That's a lot of excitement.
But it must be said that this scene is indeed worth seeing.
The sedan that the newlyweds sit in was originally a sedan that looked good.
The one Matsumoto Keiko is sitting on must be a new one. It is colorful and vivid.
Some of the four corners have four flower baskets hung, and some have four long tassels hung.
Although the eight bearers carrying the sedan were not professionals, they had practiced and their feet were quite accurate for this short distance.
Take four fingers in one step, and the left and right legs should be in sync with each other as if shouting "one, two, one".
This sedan chair is also carried securely.
Of course there are some trembling movements, but all I can see is regular slow rippling up and down, and absolutely no tilting left or right.
The professional folk band musicians in the ceremony also began to show their talents.
Four pairs of golden drums beat, "dong dong".
As well as the "croak" sound along the rim of the drum, you can really hear it.
There are two gongs in charge of "beating the butler", one in front of the other, saying, "Flag at the head, slow down, lights at the back, keep up."
Although I have no real experience, I still maintain it, and it seems to be the same.
With this posture and pomp, is it airy or not?
So, in the past, no matter how poor a family was, it was inevitable for a girl to have the right to sit in a sedan chair when she came out of the palace.
This is the only trip in a lifetime.
Only such a splendid sedan chair and the loud gongs and drums clearing the way can it be called a grand wedding.
Otherwise, when the couple had a quarrel, the woman would make the man angry, and he would always say something like this in the end.
"I was also brought here by your eight-carriage sedan chair!"
As soon as this statement came out, it was almost a fatal blow. No matter how arrogant the man was, there was nothing he could do, so he had to admit it anyway.
And just when the sedan chair arrived about ten meters in front of Yunyuan Gate.
Just listen to the sound of "crack, crackle, crackle", you can see the fire and smoke, and ten whips are set off at the same time. It is an amazing momentum.
At the same time, among the many envious eyes and the din of astonished exclamations.
The trembling sedan chair walked up the steps through the smoke and fog, passed through the gate of Yunyuan, and was carried inside.
And then, the moment that best reflected the enthusiasm of the guests arrived.
Just outside the theater to the east of Yunyuan, the groom Ning Weimin opened the curtain of the stopped sedan. From the moment the bride Keiko Matsumoto got off the sedan wearing a bright red hijab, many relatives and friends who had been waiting here lined the streets to welcome her.
Amidst the cheers, confetti suddenly flew up and fell from the sky.
The groom, the bride, the two "wives" who were getting married and seeing off the bride were all enveloped in it regardless of each other.
Almost everyone has "joy" in their body.
Joy flows lively in the Yunyuan and in front of the theater, and joy spreads in people's laughter and laughter.
At this time, a group of white pigeons raised by someone unknown, like an uninvited band, were hovering in the clear sky directly above the yard for fun, and the sound of pigeon whistles was heard.
