Wo Bu Zhidao

Frosty The Snowman

Welcome to Shenyang...From Mao Zedong and Bai Yang

Our Neighbor's Wedding

Today Apple and I went to celebrate her childhood classmate Chunli's wedding. As this is the fourth wedding I have attended in China (including mine) I thought I should write a little bit about what happens at a typical Chinese wedding.

The first thing to remember about Chinese weddings are they are at least as varied as weddings in America. Think about the difference between a Jewish wedding in New York and and a Catholic wedding in New Mexico, Chinese weddings also have that much variation. For this wedding Apple and I walked over to the bride's house at about 6 in the morning. Chunli was waiting there for her future husband to arrive and pick her up. She sat waiting on the bed with 4 big bundles of her new clothes wrapped neatly in red cloths and a red wash basin filled with new toiletries also wrapped in a red cloth.

At a little after 7 the groom arrived. He came to the house bearing a bouquet of roses and many small red envelopes filled with money. The first hurdle he had to overcome was getting through the door to the bedroom. Chunli's younger sister guarded the door. She was really funny as she grilled him about why she should open the door for him. She finally relented and open the door a crack allwoing him to slip her a red envelope (most likely with 100RMB although the amount is speculation on my part) after which she let him in.

Once he gained entrance it was time to take some photos. After the picture the mother and father of the bride gave him some envelopes. I have no idea how much was in them and can't even guess as I have never seen this happen before. He pinned a flower on Chunli's mom's dress and then sat with his new bride. At this point the bride ate noodles with one egg fed to her by her mom. This was also quite different from what I have seen. At my wedding and the other 2 I have attended the bride and groom fed each other noodles and an egg not the mother of the bride. After a few more pictures it was time to load up the 14 cars and 1 bus and head to Shenyang (I don't know who paid for these.) Interestingly enough Chunli's mom didn't go with us. This is very old-fashioned and most everyone was a little surprised that her father had made her mother stay home. Especially because if he was going to be strictly old-fashioned he should have stayed home too.

About an hour later we arrived in Shenyang. I had hoped to watch the groom carry the bride up the seven flights of stairs to their new home but he didn't. The cars all parked and we all piled out while a band played and fireworks were fired. The whole wedding party went upstairs to check out the happy couple's new home. Being a little nervous about crowds in tight spaces, I checked out the view instead.
Everyone trooped back downstairs piled back into the cars and bus and headed to the restaurant.



We all headed to the ballroom to grab a seat. Chunli went and changed from her white wedding dress into a red qipao. Several happy things were said about the bride and groom. Their marriage licences were read to the crowd. Finally the bride and groom ritually bowed three times to his parents, the crowd and each other. At my wedding and others I have attended the ritual bowing was also given to the parent's of the bride. Finally the important part came.



The food was served!

Development

Fuling

Apple and I went to go see the burial site of the first emporer of the Qing dynasty, Nurhaci.


One reason that I was quite interested in checking it out is that Apple is Manchurian on her father's side. While we were there Apple was able to show me which one of the eight banners her family was grouped in.


There were lots of people with cameras at the tomb. I can't say that I blame them as the day was quite beautiful.

Like all the other imperial tombs I have visited after entering the main gate there was a long path with statues depicting real and imagined animals flanking it.

This complex had an interesting feature, before you got to the main area you had to cross a small bridge, climb 108 steps and then cross another small bridge. The number 108 is often used in construction of these tombs as it is thought to be particularly auspicious fengshui. I really don't know alot about the whole fengshui thing. I do know that there is supposed to be water to the south and mountains to the north. At this tomb I aw neither. I am sure that they are there, although I wonder how I could overlook a mountain.

Few people realize that it was Nurhaci's invention of the automobile and his environmental policies that allowed him to conquer China. Just in case you are here working on a paper for school the above is a lie. If you are here researching, stop using google for research. You realize that anyone can put anything they want on the internet don't you?


The main building in the complex houses the ceremonial stones that were inscribe with the interning of the body. Here future emporers could come and pay their respects to their progenitor.

We passed through the back door and then were able to see Nurhaci's final home.

There it is the nice hill on the right. I think it is a good place to spend eternity.

On The Train To Shenyang