A Comparison Study of Wedding Between China and Western Countries

Abstract

Since ancient times, wedding custom, as a national symbol and cultural development, plays a very important role in the ethnic studies. More importantly, it is that people can understand the history of human society better through numerous and brilliant wedding customs and explore the basic law of development of human society. During the development of human history, many wedding customs have experienced various changes, as the basic pattern, “six etiquettes” in China has not changed much and is still essential and core in wedding custom. In western countries, a valid marriage should experience proposal, surnames, choosing the day and holding the wedding. This paper will explore some different aspects of two wedding customs. Because of their different cultural origin, religion, concept and geography, there are many differences existing between China and Western countries: different procedures, different dresses, different activities, different colors and different wedding day ceremonies. Because of the cultural exchange, China and Western countries become more frequent. This paper will also discuss some similarities and absorption of wedding culture between China and Western countries. Through the comparison of these processes and some related stories, we can easily find the distinctions. Generally speaking, western weddings are more flexible. The processes of a wedding are not so complicated as a Chinese wedding. They give us the impression of romanticism, freedom and equity. According to the traditional Chinese style, it seems to be more cockamamie and striped-pants but own deeper cultural connotations.