There are many procedures in Chinese marriage custom. The book propriety and ceremony, which records earliest wedding ceremony, says that marriage includes six etiquettes, namely, proposing, asking the name, asking for fortune, sending betrothal presents to the girl's family, discussing the date of marriage and meeting the bride. In western marriage, there are four procedures. They are proposal, changing surnames, choosing the day and holding the wedding. As the different religions, cultural origins, marriage concepts and geographies, there are many differences existing in the two kinds of marriage customs. In Chinese marriage custom, the matchmaker functions almost all the time and youths have no right to choose and women are not on an equal footing with men. By contrast, in western marriage custom, the priest functions and the youths have legal right to choose whom they want to marry and men and women are equal. There also exist common things in the two sides. They have been maintained for thousands of years. But in recent years (especially after the founding of modern China), people have tended to discard some of the details and advocate simplified marriage procedures and wedding ceremonies.
Abstract................................................................I
Key Words...............................................................I
摘要....................................................................II
关键词..................................................................II
Introduction............................................................1
I. Chinese Marriage Custom .............................................2
A. Proposing ...........................................................3
B. Asking the Name......................................................3
C. Asking for Fortune...................................................4
D. Sending Betrothal Presents to the Girl’s Family.....................4
E. Discussing the Date of Marriage......................................5
F. Meeting the Bride....................................................5
II. Western Marriage Custom.............................................5
A. Proposal ............................................................6
B. Changing Surnames....................................................7
C. Choosing the Day.....................................................7
D. Holding the Wedding..................................................8
III. Differences .......................................................9
A. Different Marriage Media.............................................9
B. Freedom: Free or Not.................................................10
C. Right: Equal or Not..................................................11
Different Purposes of Marriage..........................................12
IV. Reasons for the Differences Above ..................................12
A. Religions............................................................12
B. Cultural Origins.....................................................13
C. Marriage Concepts....................................................13
D. Geographies..........................................................14
Conclusion..............................................................15
Acknowledgements........................................................16
Bibliography ...........................................................17
