National Tide 1980.

Chapter 1337: Getting on the Bridal Sedan

From the late Qing Dynasty to the end of the Republic of China, our Chinese society has been in a very contradictory and strange state.

Due to the national disaster caused by industrial backwardness, national self-confidence is declining. It is difficult to be sure that our 5,000-year cultural heritage is valuable. Some people are even so extreme as to deny everything we have.

However, in daily life and life customs, people have a certain stubborn adherence to traditions and customs, otherwise they will become at a loss.

In general, new trends have emerged while old habits have not yet faded, and the new and the old are alternating and blending together.

Therefore, in the real social environment of the Republic of China for several decades, those who dared to be the first in the world and completely westernized, and those who were willing to lag behind others and still adhere to tradition without changing were both a minority.

This is the mystery of social psychology.

The same is true for the wedding ceremony, one of the most important events in life. It is too trendy and I dare not try it. It is too outdated and I am afraid of being laughed at.

Thus, a wedding form that is neither new nor old and a combination of the old and the new came into being.

Even celebrities are not immune to this wedding style that combines the old and the new.

Even though the socialites of the past turned to pursue a Western lifestyle, many of them wore trendy white wedding dresses when they got married.

However, just as the Japanese have not been able to completely give up shrine weddings until now, they still have a deep-seated obsession with the "phoenix crown and bridal bridal robe".

Just like the wedding of the grandson of the Ma family, the richest family in Beijing, and the daughter of the mayor of Peking.

Although the banquet was held at a hotel in Beijing, it was a Western-style wedding.

But after completing the ceremony at the Beijing Hotel, the bride, who was wearing a wedding dress and riding in the car, still took off her white wedding dress, put on a bright red traditional wedding dress, and covered her head with a veil.

Witnessed by almost all the prominent people in the capital at that time, he was carried away in public in a sedan chair carried by eight men. He set out from the Capital Hotel and was carried into the Ma Family Garden in a ostentatious manner amidst the sound of drums and music.

Another example is the famous lady Lin Huiyin. When she married Liang Sicheng, she insisted on wearing traditional Chinese clothing even though she was in a foreign country.

  The shawl can be omitted, but the phoenix coronet is a must!

Lin Huiyin thought about it and decided that since the conditions were not available abroad, she might as well design it herself.

Although the final phoenix crown no longer resembled the ancient phoenix crown, it was paired with Liang Sicheng's Western-style dress and became one of the most unique and elegant Chinese wedding dresses of that era.

So, in fact, as early as the Republic of China, we have learned to adapt etiquette to the circumstances.

The so-called traditional Chinese wedding has experienced a collision with Western culture. Just like the changes in customs throughout the dynasties, it has gradually changed into another form since the Republic of China.

The phoenix coronet and bridal bridal gown of a Chinese bride would not look out of place even when paired with the Western-style suit of a Western-style groom.

This situation is also true in today's Chinese society.

During the era of reform and opening up in our country, the country opened its doors to the outside world in a grand manner.

In fact, the cultural mentality of young people in the mid-1980s was quite similar to that of people in the Republic of China.

When it comes to wedding ceremonies, people have consciously begun the process of simplifying the complex and restoring the traditional etiquette.

Brides in Beijing usually wear their wedding gowns to take a wedding photo, and also wear red clothes to entertain guests during the wedding.

On the other hand, the groom is much more relaxed and usually only needs a suit, which he can wear from head to toe.

As for Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko's wedding today, it was almost the same.

In order not to appear old-fashioned, it just shows joy.

Not only in terms of clothing, Ning Weimin did not wear a long gown or a mandarin jacket today, but only a black Zhongshan suit to match Matsumoto Keiko's traditional Chinese auspicious dress.

Even when it came to the wedding procedure, they considered the situation and did not insist on following the old customs exactly.

If you follow the pure old etiquette, the standard traditional wedding actually goes like this.

First of all, the bride must be taken away in a sedan chair.

Early in the morning, the sedan chair was carried here and displayed in front of the host's door.

Two yellow-painted benches were placed there, and the sedan chair was propped up and placed on top for people to watch.

And there was more than one sedan chair.

In the movies, when people get married in the old days, there is often only one sedan chair. But that is not right. Just one sedan chair is not enough!

It goes without saying that the bride must have a red sedan chair with eight or four bearers, while the bride-bride lady and the bride-sitter lady must also have a green sedan chair with four or two bearers.

Following the sedan chair were various deacons.

There were two people holding umbrellas and two people holding fans, four people waving flags, and several people beating gongs, drums, suonas, and trumpets.

Therefore, the eight large drums, ten flags, a pair of lanterns, a pair of umbrellas, a pair of dragons, a pair of phoenixes, golden claw axes, stirrups pointing to the sky, avoidance signs, and gongs for clearing the way were all placed at the door of the husband's house.

When most of the guests have arrived, they start to ring the bells to send the sedan chair.

The sedan chair is carried by the head of the sedan chair, and drums and music are played in the ringing room and in the bridal chamber.

After everything is ready, the man will find his wife and send her off in a sedan chair after the ringing of the gong.

Usually the departure is no later than ten o'clock, and the bride should be picked up no later than twelve noon.

Also, when the sedan chair arrives at the woman's side, the man will knock on the door. When the woman knows the sedan chair is coming, she will close the door, which means the man is proposing to her.

At this time, as the man getting married, you have to "beg" the other party and say whatever nice things you can.

You have to stuff the "red seals" into the door one by one. The door will only be opened when the people inside think that all the red seals have been filled and enough has been given.

After the door is opened, the bride's wife and the bride's escort wife meet first.

There is only one place with snacks and tea to entertain the people who come to pick up the bride, but they usually just look and don't eat.

After that, the newlyweds get into the sedan chair.

At this time, in addition to the drummers starting to play "A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix", the bride has to cover her head with a veil and hold a porcelain bottle filled with five-colored grains in her arms to symbolize peace and prosperity.

The sedan chair had to be carried into the yard, with its curtains opened and placed directly against the door of the bride's room to prevent the bride from seeing any light outside.

After the bride was helped by the bride-sitter into the sedan chair, the bride-sitter herself got into the green sedan chair, and the groom also got on the horse. The bride's two brothers were asked to follow along, one on the left and one on the right, to hold down the sedan chair.

The so-called "pressing down the sedan chair" means not letting the sedan chair move too fast so that the bride can sit firmly in the sedan chair.

There are also some rules to follow when carrying a sedan chair.

Besides the fact that everyone knows that the sedan chair bearers have to walk in the middle of the avenue while playing music and drums, there also needs to be a commander among the bearers at the front - the sedan chair head.

The sedan head is the one leading the way. For example, if there is a pit on the left, people will shout "pit on the left", and the people behind will know that there is a pit on the left.

You have to shout at the head, and then you will realize that the sedan bearers in front and behind have the same pace.

It definitely won’t work if you take a step forward with your left leg and then with your right leg.

For example, in the movie "Red Sorghum" that Jiang Wen will be filming next year, he plays the role of Yu Zhan'ao, the head of the sedan chair.

He deliberately teased the bride by shaking the sedan chair hard, which directly caused Jiuer, played by Gong Li, to vomit. That move was an abuse of his "power".

Of course, it was also because Jiuer had no brothers from her natal family riding in the sedan chair that she was bullied by the sedan bearers.

Otherwise, the brothers from the bride's family would have to carry the sedan chair, and even if the sedan bearers had ten times the courage, they would not dare to do so.

When the group arrives at the groom's house with music and drums, the sedan chair is leveled and enters the yard, but the curtain is not opened. The groom draws his bow and shoots an arrow at the sedan chair to shoot away all the evil spirits and demons before he can open the curtain to let the bride get down.

However, after the bride came out, she was still covered with a veil, and was supported by the wedding lady and the bride-sending lady as she walked over the fire basin and the saddle.

"Brazier" means prosperity, and "saddle" means peace and safety, both are homophones.

After entering, there is also the custom of sitting in the tent, sitting on the bed or the kang, first drinking the wedding wine, and then eating descendants' cakes and longevity noodles.

There must be a child outside shouting, "Do you want to have a baby?", and then you can lift the veil.

After that, the newlyweds will pay homage to heaven and earth, and to their relatives and friends. This is called the wedding ceremony.

First worship the ancestors, then worship the parents, and then worship the matchmaker. After all these worships, the ceremony is complete.

This is the set of procedures on the wedding day.

As shown in some movies and TV shows, the bride's veil can only be removed by her husband in the bridal chamber at night.

Those are probably from an extremely ancient feudal society, let alone modern times, and they are simply not applicable to modern society.

Because just think about it and you will know how inhumane and unscientific it is.

Let's not talk about whether the groom can suppress his anxiety or whether the bride is upset. Marriage is originally a union between two families, and the purpose of all the complicated ceremonies is to announce to the world that the man has married a first wife with a clean status.

How is it possible not to allow the bride to meet her relatives and friends?

Don't let the servants at home recognize your appearance?

If that were the case, how much trouble would it cause if there was no strict rectification in front of relatives and friends?

If all the relatives and friends who come to congratulate can’t even see the bride’s face, then wouldn’t the wedding ceremony be in vain?

  How do people know who you married? Is it a man or a woman? Is it a human or a ghost?

Even if she is a concubine, it is not so shameful.

So it can be said that, precisely because of the changes in the times, the social situation is very different from the past.

Even with sufficient financial support, these old customs and etiquette must be changed according to actual conditions.

  How can we blindly stick to those feudal, unrefined, undignified and unrealistic customs?

If you don't know how to adapt and just copy everything, it will not be beautiful, or even become a joke, which will lower the level of the wedding.

  Take the bride-picking ceremony for example. Nowadays, the avenue is for cars. Is it still possible to walk in the middle of the avenue with music and dance?

Then the traffic police should intervene.

And the Pierre Cardon Hotel is far away from Jianguomen.

Let the wedding procession carry the sedan chair and ceremonial guards, and tell the traffic police not to cause trouble, but these people will be exhausted to death.

It's simply impossible.

The bride would suffer even more sitting in the bridal sedan, of course. Even if no one pushed her forward, she would probably become Jiuer in Red Sorghum when she got there.

So, although the steps of showing the sedan chair and getting into the sedan chair do exist, they are very close.

After the wedding procession drove out of the alley, the bridal sedan and ceremonial guards were brought to the alley by the people from Yunyuan and prepared there.

After the convoy picks the people up, the convoy of wedding cars will stop on the street outside the alley.

Then, according to custom, the procession only starts from the entrance of the alley, and the convoy follows the sedan chair procession in. This is a stopgap measure, a change made based on actual conditions.

Also, when sending the bride off, according to old customs the bride's parents are not allowed to go to the groom's house to join in the fun.

When the sedan chair is sent off, the groom has to send a banquet to his father-in-law, called "Li Niang Fan", so that they can stay at their own home and eat.

  How is this possible?

Not to mention that Ning Weimin invited Matsumoto Keiko's parents all the way from Japan to watch the ceremony.

Even if local people in Beijing want to get married, no one does this nowadays. It is too inhumane.

Who isn’t born and raised by parents? There is absolutely no reason for one’s parents to be absent from important events in life.

There is also the bride who cries when she goes out, which means she misses her parents and doesn't want to get married.

If someone were to do this in real life, it would be even more of a spoiler, as if the man was some evil person who bullies men and women.

In addition, locking the bride in the hall after the ceremony is called "making trouble in the bridal chamber".

Based on the principle of "three days without distinction of importance", sometimes the bride is really disturbed and is forced to the point where she cannot cry, laugh, get anxious or get annoyed.

  How could a Japanese bride like Keiko Matsumoto handle this?

Ning Weimin would never give others the opportunity to tease his wife, and his father-in-law and mother-in-law would not agree to it, so such a step would of course be avoided.

After all, why is it so important to keep up with the times?

  Otherwise, how can we say that nothing is static?

This is the reason.

So in fact, when Ning Weimin went to pick up the bride that day, he not only brought a large bouquet of flowers.

In the wedding room on the eighteenth floor of the Pierre Catton Hotel, only the customs of knocking on the door and stuffing red seals were retained.

Franc, pound, dollar, yen, renminbi, foreign exchange certificates.

Ning Weimin picked up the largest banknotes and stuffed them into six red envelopes, then stuffed them all into the house to bribe the children of Song Huagui and Zou Guodong, and easily opened the door.

When she went downstairs and got into the car, the bride was still not wearing a veil.

Surrounded by the crowd, she went downstairs holding a bouquet of flowers and wearing a beautiful wedding dress. Amid many envious eyes, she and Ning Weimin got into the lead car of the Mercedes-Benz in the wedding convoy. They even passed Tiananmen Square and went around Nanchizi, then went around the Forbidden City and passed by Beihai and Jingshan Gate. After a big circle, they finally arrived at the gate of Weijia Hutong.

And the true traditional etiquette only starts from here.

Things were different this time. Not only was Matsumoto Keiko covered with a red veil in the car, but she also got into the sedan chair without touching the ground. Amidst a chorus of cheers and applause, Ning Weimin carried her into the sedan chair.

By the time the sedan bearers came up and closed the door and put on the roof, the sedan was almost completely dark for Keiko Matsumoto.

At this time, the Japanese director Toyotomi Osawa and the cameraman, who were already ready, had actually already started filming.

Afterwards, as the song "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" was played, the bridal sedan and ceremonial guards led the way, followed by a motorcade.

Even the crew members, the wedding procession and the ordinary people watching, all headed towards the gate of Yun Garden together.

It was such a lively event with so many people mobilized.

But it must be said that such scenery is indeed worth seeing.

The sedan chair that the newlyweds ride in is originally the "shoushuier" sedan chair.

The one that Keiko Matsumoto is sitting on must be a new work. It is colorful and really fresh.

At the four corners, some had four flower baskets hung, and some had four long ears hung.

Although the eight sedan bearers were not professionals, they had undergone practice and their steps were quite sure for the short distance.

Take four fingers in one step, and move left and right legs in unison, faster than shouting "one, two, one".

This sedan chair is carried very steadily.

There was some trembling movement, of course, but it was only a slow, regular up-and-down sway, with absolutely no tilt to the left or right.

The musicians from the professional folk music bands in the ceremonial guard also began to show off their skills.

Four pairs of golden drums started beating, "dong dong".

As well as the "quack" sound along the edge of the drum, you can really hear what's going on.

The two gongs that managed the "beating of the deacons" were in front and behind, and they responded, "The first flag, slow down, the lights behind, keep up."

Although there is no real experience, I have managed to maintain it and it seems pretty good.

With this posture and this grand display, isn’t it impressive?

So, in the past, no matter how poor the family was, when a girl got married, riding in a bridal sedan was a right that she had to fight for.

This is the only trip in a lifetime.

Only a bridal sedan like this, with gongs and drums leading the way, can be called a grand wedding.

Otherwise, why do they say that when a couple quarreled, the woman made the man so angry that he would always say something like this in the end?

"You also carried me here in a sedan chair!"

Once these words were spoken, it was almost a fatal blow. No matter how arrogant the man was, he had no choice but to admit it.

Just when the sedan chair was about ten meters away from the gate of Yunyuan.

There was a sound of "crackling", and then there was fire and smoke, and ten firecrackers were set off at the same time. It was an amazing momentum.

At the same time, amidst the many envious eyes and the noise of exclamations and astonishment.

The trembling sedan chair walked up the steps through the smoke and fog, passed through the gate of Yun Garden, and was carried inside.

And then, the moment that best reflected the guests' enthusiasm arrived.

Just outside the theater to the east of Yun Garden, the groom Ning Weimin lifted the curtain of the parked sedan chair. From the moment the bride Matsumoto Keiko got out of the sedan chair covered with a bright red veil, colorful confetti suddenly flew up and fell from the sky amid the cheers of many relatives and friends who had been waiting there for a long time.

It enveloped the bride and groom, as well as the two "wives" who were there to help the bride and groom and to send them off.

Almost everyone was filled with joy.

Joy flows lively in Yun Garden and in front of the theater, and happiness spreads in people's laughter and joy.

At this time, a group of white pigeons from someone's home, like an uninvited band, circled in the clear sky above the yard, and the sound of pigeon whistles could be heard.

Crisp, loud, exciting...