Culture Amalgamation – It is a beautiful term in which more than one culture blends together to form a new and unique culture.
When people from different cultures, ethnicity or racial group live together, then lot of exchange of ideas, thoughts, eating habits, religion, culture, living style, language, clothing and other basic habits. There are many types of culture blending in history which can be seen between two countries, borders, cities, states, continents and most important between two person in marriage. Â
Here in this post, I am talking aboutÂ
A Beautiful Amalgamation of Cultures – Indian Chinese Wedding
Last month I was in Shanghai for my brother’s Wedding which, I stated in my previous posts. This Wedding was held at Xinyu(west-central Jiangxi Province, PRC).
Many people in wedding were curious about how this culture amalgamation and how it started as my brother is Indian and girl is Chinese. But their story also started, with passion of traveling. They both are avid travelers and during touring in Prague they met in Youth Hostel of PRAGUE. Love blossomed and then convincing all family members, relatives and friends they decided to marry in both traditions. Here in this post I am writing about Chinese Wedding traditions.
Chinese Traditions in Wedding –Â
Decor – Red is a favorite color for all Chinese people. Red is known to be symbol of GOOD LUCK which keeps away evil spirits away according their traditions. Double Happiness symbol, Dragon and Phoenix symbols banners are decorated in house and as well as at banquet hall.
 Wedding Dress of Bride & Groom – Both bride and groom wear auspicious red color traditional dress called Qun Kwa. Two piece Red colored Dress with Kimono styled Jacket and skirt are designed with heavy embroidery with colorful threads, gold & silver threads to symbolize luck and happiness. The dress is embroidered with a Dragon & Phoenix as Dragon represents male and Phoenix represents female. So designing them side by side balances Yin and Yang of couple.
Traditions – It is a two day affair in which on first day many games and tricks are played between groom and bridesmaid. Some games like stealing of groom’s shoes by bridesmaid and returning them back on getting back gifts. Next day lavish Wedding Reception with rituals is given which are attended by family and friends. On day of Wedding procession with decorated car having couple are taken out with firecrackers and then proceeded to Banquet hall.
Bride enters the Wedding Altar by jumping the fire pot(here animated fire-pot was used as in ancient times actual fire-pot was used) to symbolize keeping evil spirits away and Groom waits for her at altar. In background Chinese traditional music is running on which is very soothing though we understood nothing but very musical. After arrival of bride they stand and pay homage to heaven, earth, family and Tsa-Chun.
Now Tea Ceremony begins which is very essential in Chinese style wedding. Tea with two lotus seeds or two red dates in each cup are offered to Bride’s parents by groom.
Then bride and groom bow to each other which completes ceremony.
Then followed by toasts and Wedding Speeches.
Groom’s and Bride’s parents deliver speeches but as we cannot speak Chinese and they cannot understand English, Bride translated speeches for all of us. After speeches, six course Meal is served. Being vegetarian, Special Chinese cuisine customized according to us was arranged for us on special VIP table. Â
During the 3rd and 6th courses, both bride and groom change clothes and make way to each table raising toasts during the banquet. Once bride and groom visited each table to raise toasts, desserts are served and after that guests can exit the hall. On each dining table, a bowl of fruits composed of dates, peanuts, Longan(Chinese fruit), Lotus seeds and chestnuts are kept. These fruits are kept as blessings to couple to have a healthy child quickly.
Guests bring Red envelopes containing money and fruit baskets as Wedding gifts. This Wedding ceremonies with Meal took for around 4 hours. Â
We experienced a life-time unique experience and got a very new learning that LOVE CONQUERs all barriers and borders. Even if we don’t know same language or share same race but Love unites them or blends them. So Do you love thisÂ
A Beautiful Amalgamation of Cultures – Indian Chinese Wedding
So Keep Loving……………………Keep Traveling ……………………………Keep Exploring……………….
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This is an interesting as I have never attended a Chinese-Indian wedding. I agree with with you that this is a beautiful amalgamation of cultures. Congratulations to the newly wed and thank you for sharing this. I learned something new today.
It’s good to learn about a wedding from a different culture, there’s so much more symbolism in a Chinese wedding that what we have in the UK. I love that the wedding party goes on for days.
Yes through wedding we learn many cultures and a place too.
This looks beautiful. Wow
What a beautiful story and an amalgamation of cultures. The tea ceremony always fascinates me. I think you are lucky that the ceremony lasted 4 hours – I have known it to last a lot longer. Wonderful post.
Thanks for finding this post wonderful. I too love to see many cultures and their traditions.
haha, this is my first time to read a post from a foreigner to talk about Chinese wedding, lovely!!! (I’m Chinese btw) 😀
Oh good to know that you are Chinese. My sister in law is Chinese.
This was such an interesting read! I live in Thailand and there are many Chinese friends here too, and I am well aware of their culture, especially giving money in red envelopes and those red dresses. In fact, I had attended few Chinese and Thai amalgamated weddings, but never heard of a Chinese and Indian wedding. This is so cool to know. Best wishes for the bride and groom from my side!
Good to know that you have seen some Chinese and Thai weddings and for us also Chinese Indian wedding was unique combination.
What a fascinating wedding and truly a heady blend of cultures and traditions. Made for wonderful reading as I was totally unaware about how a Chinese wedding is conducted. Looking at the rituals, at the basic level I do see some similarities to our traditional Indian weddings too.
Yes Sandy, I too saw a resemblance with Indian weddings, like wearing Red color, and here in China also, girl’s friends steals boys shoes just like in India and return them after getting gifts…
Its a beautiful story of love. How love is beyond boundary and celebration of multiculturalism. I loved the rituals and the decoration. I did not know that the red is auspicious in Chinese tradition as well. As in Indian tradition also, red color is the most auspicious.
many other customs are also similar to our indian traditions too.
Wow, that’s so heartwarming. Though the diplomatic relationship between China and India is unstable but this relationship seems to be working well. God bless the newly weds!
So many congratulations to your brother and his new bride! It was a lot of fun to read about how they met, along with their wedding and all of the traditions. Were most of them from the Chinese culture, the Indian cultures? I was surprised by how many of them (like jumping over the fire pot) were performed to ward off evil. Also, I loved the emphasis of the joining of two families and honoring their parents in the different ways they did. As they begin their new life together, I wish them many years of health happiness. ps: Where did they side to live permanently? x
Thanks Alison! In future where they will live is still undecided but as they are more adaptable and open to new cultures, they can live anywhere happily.
Great step by step guide on everything that goes into a Chinese wedding. You really dived in to the details, describing every bit of what happens. As I was reading I felt as though I was there.
This must’ve been one helluva party! I’m Chinese so I’m familiar with the complex traditions. I’ve heard about “big fat Indian weddings” so I can only imagine what a massive gathering this must’ve been!
This is incredibly beautiful! One of my Indian friend also got married to a Chinese gal but they got married in a big fat Indian wedding! This is so beautiful! When cultures get mixed it gives birth to a beautiful amalgamation indeed!!! Awesome that they arranged a veggie table for you guys!
What a great idea for a post! Looking forward to hearing about the Indian traditions as well. I’ve never attended a wedding from either culture, but both look much more colorful than the typical American affair! I could get used to the idea of wearing red to a wedding–it’s one of my favorite colors!
even in India, people wear shades of red color in wedding.
This is very interesting considering that both the Chinese and Indian cultures tend to marry from within. The couple must be so forward looking because they are avid travelers. I just wanted to see the faces of the bride and groom!
Wow sounds like a fairy tale in modern setting! Loved it to core. 🙂
And that little games you mentioned we have them in our Bengali weddings too. Didn’t know red is auspicious to them. Good choice for all functions always.
Wow! Loved the decorations, everything looks so bright and gorgeous. It is definitely wonderful to experience a new culture there is so much to learn and understand. I haven’t attended much other religion weddings and would love to experience different cultures and customs. Congratulations to you and your family!
This is such a unique wedding. Its great that both the families were willing to accept each other which often becomes an issue. I have never seen such bright red being used so effectively for decor. I am so curious to know how the rituals of each of these disparate cultures would be fused in the wedding.
Now that’s one story for the grandchildren. A real life travel romance. So glad you shared this with us. Th wedding is so colorful and amazing and like you said a real mix of two cultures. Brilliant!
I went to a Chinese wedding in Hong Kong, and it was such a colourful and interesting experience! I love all the red and the symbolism behind the wedding. The food also looks yummy and very healthy too; a very nice meeting of your cultures!
Weddings are truly one of the best occasions to attend for a peak into a culture! It is amazing how different cultures celebrate weddings differently. I haven’t tried attending a wedding ceremony of this type, but it would be interesting if I had the chance!
This sounds like a beautiful Chinese Indian wedding, great to see how they used the symbols and colours in the dress and decor. Stealing the grooms shoes seems like a fun tradition. Thank you for sharing the details on this wedding, I found it super interesting.
Awwwwn. So lovely. I know if mist have sounded crazy to the folks but wow, it happened. I think that’s one benefit of traveling, almagamation. I really love what I read and I like the idea of Indian-Chinese marriage. The children would be so lucky to be exposed to double culture and language.
Oh what an interesting look inside two fascinating cultures joining in celebration! Your photos look simply incredible – I love all the red brought to the occasion as the traditional Chinese colour. I’d never heard of fruit baskets as wedding gifts before either – how wonderfully unique and interesting! Thanks for sharing!
What an interesting concept, an amalgamation! With all the Indians living in China it must be a regular event. The wedding ceremony looks very colourful and a very memorable day.
But boy and girl lives in europe and that town saw first time this kind of marriage. Even in India people marry within their society.