The Development History of Traditional Wedding in China

The original wedding form began at the end of primitive society, from the engagement ceremony in Fuxi era, gradually evolved into "welcoming guests in the hall" in Xia and Shang dynasties, and then to the complete "six ceremonies" in Zhou Dynasty, which initially laid the foundation for the traditional wedding in China. After several generations of development, various wedding ceremonies have become more complicated and enthusiastic.

In the pre-Qin period, there were five kinds (including accepting gifts, asking names, concubinage, accepting gifts and inviting parties), and later generations gradually evolved into ritual festivals such as urging makeup, sending makeup and vacating houses.

In the third year of Emperor Ping of Han Dynasty, Liu Xin and others arranged the wedding, and the fourth assistant, Dr. Lang Junqing, told the family of Qianlang to marry him personally. The next year, the queen was also appointed to accept Cai and Buji. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Crown Prince was not invited to attend the wedding, and from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he often did not marry according to the six rites.

After the Tang Dynasty, the Crown Prince began to treat guests, and the pro-emperor wedding would follow the six rites. Later, the premise of "asking names" was "acceptance", and the premise of "invitation meeting" was "acceptance"; Therefore, although the concept is still in accordance with the Six Rites, in fact there are only four Rites, namely, accepting talents, accepting the pole, Zheng Na and kissing. Zhu Xi's family gifts combined "Naji" and "Zheng Na" into one, so there were only three gifts.

In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a ceremony to discuss marriage.

In the first year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, the Party decided to make a wedding ceremony based on Zhu Zi's family ceremony.

In the Qing Dynasty, according to Tongli, officials in the Han Dynasty had nine ceremonies, but they were all merged into adult ceremony and adult ceremony. In ancient times, there were only five rituals left, namely, discussing marriage, receiving gifts, receiving coins, inviting guests and welcoming guests. Other literati and marriage are relatively simple, while folk weddings are generally carried out in accordance with Zhu's family law.