Shanghai Marriage Customs- An Everlasting Theme
2 min readA romantic, French-style Tours Wedding Ceremony On May 11, 2010, a French-style group wedding ceremony was held on the top floor of the French Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. According to reports, the ceremony was tailor-made by the French Pavilion to better suit the Chinese newlyweds.
The marriage custom is eye-catching in Shanghai for such a reason that it was one of the first Chinese cities to open to Western culture in the late Qing Dynasty and one of the most important po-litical, economic and cul tural centers in China. The marriage custom in Shanghai shows how people’s perspective on marriage, relationships between young people and the selection standards evolved and changed The young people in Shanghaihad no right to choose their own spouses when the city first opened up as a trading port. The couple could only meet for the first time on the wedding day. The ceremony as held basically to follow the old Chinese traditions but with a touch of ‘Wu’ culture (that of the area south of the Yaiver). The ceremony on the wedding day was the most important an complicated paredings. From the day when Shanghai opened its port, Shanghai women have witnessed many social changes due to Western cultural influences, the Revolution of 1911, and May 4 Movement, one agnd feudalism. Under the impact of the New Thinking Movement,Shanghai women started to go out of their houses to get education and even jobs. They became the first, young couples started to opt for self-determined and eco ddings. They put up advertisements in search of marriage partners and make marriage notices in newspapers On April 3, 1935, China’s first group wedding took place in Shanghai’s Jiangwan City Ha lis new style wedding became popular in China’s major cities at the time. Some old Shanghainese people still keep the photos of the group weddings. It could be said that Shanghaiis the cradle of “civilized marriage” in modern China. However before the liberation in 1949 only upper class intellectuals were free to choose their own marriage partners. Most young people from the poor families still had to have their marriages arranged by matchmakers and their parents.
After the Liberation in 1949, the feudal marriage system in existence for thousands of years was gone as China’s first Marriage implemented. The marriage registration regulations self-determined marriage. The social status of women volved in choosing their spouses in marriage. It is ents of the wives. Since the re-ners have become increasingly heir search for mar-up of the Pudong District or choosing a marriage her the numberge registrations gtypes have redding”,“yachtge”,“experimen-onsistent with the development of Shang become more characteristic, due to theng and marriage age and protocols will fade but relationships,the preference to fashionable weddings, the variety of family forms and loosened marital relation-ships. The marriage on the basis of love will become the simplest”knot to treasure” in Shanghai.
