Home
» City specials
» Hangzhou
Married to tradition in new exhibition
Print Edition
IN ancient times, when a family’s daughter was to be married, they would give dowry to son-in-law’s family. The bigger and better the dowry, the higher the status their daughter would have in the new family. That tradition pervaded in China for centuries, especially in Ningbo and Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, where the tradition originated.
Dowry items ranging from beds and wardrobes to mirrors and bowls were painted with red lacquer as red is traditionally considered auspicious in China.
On the wedding day, the bride would be carried to the bridegroom’s family home in a traditional sedan chair, followed by porters carrying her dowry.
It is said that the procession might stretch for 10 li — 5 kilometers — when it was for the daughter of a rich family. Therefore, this tradition came to be known as “10 li of red dowry.”
Though they have now disappeared into history, red dowries still provide remarkable snapshots of past times.
Now, a permanent exhibition on the dowry culture of Ningbo-Shaoxing Plain has opened in Zhejiang Museum in Hangzhou, offering an insight into the province’s wedding customs of old.
The first part of the exhibition features ritual and betrothal items, including ceremonial vessels, brocade clothes, gold earrings and engagement letters.
In ancient times, when a girl or boy reached the age of marriage, their parents would ask a local woman matchmaker to find a suitable match for their child.
Usually, the matchmaker would look among families of equal social rank and wealth. Such equality was considered an important element for a happy marriage.
Next, the dates of birth and the horoscopes of the potential match would be exchanged between the two families, and a fortune-teller analyze whether or not they could get married.
If their personal information was considered a match, they would be engaged. In ancient China, marriage was decided by parents, and young people had no choice but to obey.
The groom-to-be would give some “a bride price” containing brocade, gold accessories and food to family of his intended; in return she would give some embroidery and food she had made.
The engagement letter — the highlight of this part of the exhibition — served as a marital contact between the two families. As well as specifying that the couple were engaged, it also fixed the wedding day and provided a signal for the bride’s family to prepare the dowry.
Wooden furniture accounted for a large part of dowries. They were made according to traditional techniques of carving, gilding and lacquering. The red color — called zhusha in Chinese — would never fade.
The second part of the exhibition features a sedan chair, a common mode of transport in former times. The size and degree of ornamentation reflected the wealth of bride’s family — and served a reminder to the groom’s family of her status.
Rich families would spend a large sum of money on an impressive sedan chair in an effort to ensure their daughter’s future happiness.
The most luxurious sedan chairs were made according to the traditional mortise and tenon technique for joining pieces of wood at an angle of 90 degrees. A shaped tenon end of one piece of wood is inserted into a same-sized hole in the other. Nails are not used in the process. Sedans were also engraved with patterns and gilded.
The one on display is named “八抬大轿” — which literally means “a sedan chair that needs eight bearers to lift it”. Historical records show that sedan chairs made in Ningbo were considered top of the range in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
It is carved with auspicious pictures and embedded with paintings on glass. The whole surface is painted with glittering lacquer, with tassels hanging from the top.
After going through a series of ceremonial procedures, the newlyweds would be sent to their bridal chamber, where most of the dowry items, ranging from bed and closet to chairs and tables, had been put. These form the third part of the exhibition.
The highlight of this part is the traditional Chinese bed, of which the top and three sides are have latticework featuring flower and auspicious animal designs.
Though seldom used in modern times, such traditional beds can be still seen in some antique houses. Due to their sophisticated carving and superb woodwork, they have become very desirable antiques.
On the bed there is a “Madam Bamboo” (竹夫人), a cylindrical hollow pillow woven from bamboo strips. In ancient times, hugging the Madam Bamboo while going to sleep was considered an effective way to lower the temperature in summer, because the bamboo strips were smooth and cooling.
A dresser was an essential item in a dowry. They were designed with many small drawers to put accessories and usually decorated with carvings and phoenix designs.
Other dowry items reflected hopes that the new couple would soon produce children. An “offspring barrel” was used to bathe the newborn, while a milk bucket was to be used to ask for milk from other new mothers if the mother didn’t have enough to feed her baby.
Date: Tuesdays-Fridays
Venue: Zhejiang Provincial Museum
Address: 6 West Lake Cultural Square
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
