Weddings throughout the ages reflect the changing times.

The first law that the People's Republic of China issued, was the Marriage Law. In the law, which took effect on May 1, 1950, equality between the sexes, monogamy, freedom in marriage and divorce are stipulated. It is praised as "an epoch declaration on women's human rights."In the fifties, although there were still many arranged marriages, the wedding ceremony changed considerably in response to the new social environment.

The 50s: Revolutionary and Simple Weddings

The typical 50s wedding was full of revolutionary color. The fashionable wedding outfit in cities was a cadre suit or Lenin jacket, while mandarin jacket and qipao in rural areas continued to prosper. New couples all wore bright red paper flowers pinned to their clothes. The Party secretary, of the work unit where the new couple was based, was usually invited to act as the chief witness at a wedding ceremony. The bride, bridegroom, matchmaker, chief witness and the new couple's parents all sealed the marriage certificate. All the guests would then gather together for a feast. The wedding gifts, apart from the standard contribution of 5 Mao each, were usually pots, washbasins, washboards and mirrors.

But there was usually no feast at the weddings of urban cadres and staff members. In 1953, Hu Baisen, a soldier based in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, was preparing to get married on the eve of Spring Festival. At that time, soldiers all ate in large dining rooms, where food was provided free. Only a very small personal allowance was given to each soldier. When the wedding day arrived, the bride and groom were still wearing their old army uniforms. Their wedding chamber was an office of less than 10 square meters, provided for them by the unit, which was furnished with two plank beds and some stools.

The only precious gift among the wedding gifts was a novel sent by one of their old friends, How Is the Steel Refined, which was a popular book at that time. The wedding ceremony was held in the dinning hall of the unit and the unit's commander was their chief witness. The guests were all made up of colleagues who sat around eating "Happy-Sweets" and chatting.

The rural wedding ceremony also underwent changes during this period. In 1959, in Xicheng Township, Dingxian County, Hebei Province, when 25-year-old Liu Guochuan and 21-year-old Li Enhui got married, the bridal sedan chair was changed to a carriage. As a result of great economical difficulties, the couple could not afford an extravagant wedding. They bought a big bowl of Chinese cabbage soup, two steamed corn breads, made some noodles and steamed buns, with the limited amount of flour the groom's family still had. This simple meal served as their wedding feast. Three days later, the newly-weds took the train to Beijing, where they had a picture taken for less than one yuan.

The 60s-70s: Political Weddings

Due to the "Cultural Revolution", weddings in the mid-60s and 70s were full of political color. Wedding days were usually chosen on holidays and ceremonies were simpler than ever before.

In 1967, Zhong Miaoshen, working in Shenzhen, decided to hold his wedding on May Day (May 1--International Labor Day). At the marriage registration office, he and his fianc¦e received a marriage certificate, which bore the sentence: "The core of leadership leading our course is the Communist Party of China and the theoretical basis guiding our ideology is Marxism and Leninism."On the wedding day, the couple received a dozen copies of the Three Selected Works of Mao Zedong and five to six plaster statues of the late Chairman. The walls of the wedding chamber were covered with portraits of Mao and the character:(loyalty) in bright red. On the picture frames their colleagues sent them were the words: "To read Chairman Mao's books, listen to his words and be Chairman Mao's good soldiers."Only the characters (double happiness) in front of the mosquito net was not related to politics.

The wedding was serious and simple: songs sung in praise of Mao, three bows taken before the portrait of Chairman Mao and then a quotation from Chairman Mao read out. Finally the bride and groom performed a dance to express their loyalty to Mao, and gave account of what they had learned from Chairman Mao's works. The wedding ended with the singing of a revolutionary song.

On the wedding of Zhang Yanzheng and Zhu Jichang from the countryside in Hebei's Huailai County, on October 26, 1969, the bride was wearing a sweater she had knitted herself, with pink colored wool that the groom had sent her. The groom wore cloth shoes, a white shirt and nylon-gabardine trousers.

The local custom was to get married in the morning. Riding on bikes, carrying one-meter-tall plastic statues of Chairman Mao and large picture frames, several of the couple's Beijing friends came to join in the celebration. During the ceremony, the bride and groom exchanged Mao badges--tokens of their enduring affection. The wedding banquet cost 50 yuan. There was stewed pork with turnips and Chinese cabbage. Every person gave his/her share of the expenses as a wedding present.

70s weddings were particularly frugal affairs. Grain, non-staple food and cigarettes were all bought with coupons. The food coupons needed for the wedding had to be saved from the quotas for each family member. The most tiring thing in preparation for a wedding was purchase of furniture. On receiving the marriage certificate, a couple was given coupons for cupboards, bed and chairs. They then had to go to furniture stores and stand in long queues to buy the furniture.

The 80s-90s: Constantly Changing Wedding Customs

In the late 1980s, with the improvement of people's living standards, gradual changes took place in wedding customs. In 1981, in response to the call of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China for young people to have "civilized, thrifty and lively weddings", local branches of the CYLC took an active part in creating and holding new forms of weddings. These included collective weddings, tea-party weddings and honeymoon trip weddings, dinner weddings, weddings with League day activities and outdoor weddings. The cadres and Party members in some places related the change in wedding ceremonies to the changes in the style of the Communist Party.

April 39, 1989 was Li Qing's birthday and also her wedding day. At that time, permed hair was in vogue. Li Qing spent more than 30 yuan for a permanent wave. Before the wedding, she and her fianc¦ had a colored photo taken in wedding clothes. Just half a year before, there were only black and white photos with artificial colors. Having the pictures taken cost them about 100 yuan.

On the wedding day, a banquet was held in a restaurant. At that time, to eat in restaurant was difficult to manage unless the couple had "guan xi" or connections. The gifts ranged from framed pictures, tea sets, drinking utensils to woolen blankets and quartz clocks. Newly-weds enjoyed 15 days¯ holiday for a honeymoon. The tourist areas from Huangshan Mountain to Suzhou and Hangzhou were known as "honeymooner trails", at the time.

In the 1990s, weddings began to become ceremonious again. Luxurious cars were required to pick up the bride, a banquet in a grand restaurant was preferred and a set of high quality photos in wedding clothes could not be omitted. The days chosen for weddings also changed; many people chose auspicious days. On October 14, 1990, there were a surprisingly great number of weddings in Beijing. This particular date had been chosen because it contained two even numbers (10 and 14) and so numerically represented the character and good luck sign of weddings:"double happiness". According to the solar calendar the date was August 26th--which also contains two even numbers (8 and 26). The year 1990 was an even number too, so all in all this was a lucky day to get married!

Young people also went for the novel wedding. There were weddings in the air--with the couple both parachuting to the ground; the traditional wedding--with the couple wearing traditional Chinese clothes and the bride being taken to the groom's home in a rickshaw. There were even group weddings held on the Great Wall! On January 1, 2000, 200 couples from the 56 nationalities in China held a millennium wedding together in Beijing.