When visiting Tongli ancient town, I found a Jiangnan wedding custom museum, which showed the wedding custom culture in Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China through various objects and pictures.
This wedding custom museum was originally a private house "Chongben Hall", and its owner was a rice shop owner in the ancient town. After Tongli was developed into a scenic spot, this private house was turned into a museum of marriage customs, which collected 400 items related to marriage customs in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, showing the changes of marriage in hundreds of years to tourists.
Marriage has been a serious matter since ancient times. From matchmaking to bridal chamber, every link has supporting etiquette. According to Zhou Li, there are six essential procedures for ancient people to get married: receiving gifts, asking names, receiving gifts, receiving gifts, inviting parties and welcoming people.
Nacai means to propose as a matchmaker. As the saying goes, "the parents' life is the words of the matchmaker." In ancient times, a matchmaker had to propose marriage at the woman's house before the woman's parents agreed to make follow-up arrangements. It is irregular to bypass the marriage of the matchmaker, so there is a saying that "the matchmaker is getting married"
If men and women really love each other, they will give each other something, usually bracelets, Yu Pei, sachets and so on. There is a complete Yu Pei in the wedding custom museum, which is a token of love for a pair of beautiful women in the Ming Dynasty. After hundreds of years, it still looks warm and beautiful.
Jade had a lofty position in ancient China. It not only represented a gentle and upright character, but also entrusted the feelings between men and women. There is a saying in the book of songs that "a gentleman is gentle as jade", and there is also a saying in the ancients that "how can you be grateful?" Meiyu adorns Luo Ying's love poems.
There are a large number of embroidered shoes in the wedding custom museum, all of which are collected from the folk, with bright colors and different sizes. Embroidered shoes are a major feature of China culture. It is usually used by women when they get married. They became a custom in the Tang Dynasty and were also used as keepsakes and mascots.
The reason for choosing shoes is that "shoes" and "opening" are homophonic, red represents auspiciousness, and then embroidery represents beauty.
There are also a large number of men's cheongsam in the wedding customs museum, which is different from the usual dark and rigorous. These cheongsam are yellow or gold, embroidered with gold thread and mandarin duck pattern, and they look beaming.
The most interesting thing in the museum is the marriage certificates of all ages. Compared with the single red style now, the marriage certificates of a hundred years ago are obviously more diverse, including a marriage certificate of 36 years in the Republic of China written by a couple in Hankou (now Wuhan).
The marriage certificate is written with a brush, and even the names of the officiator, introducer and witness are there. There are all kinds of flower and bird patterns at the bottom, such as magpies announcing good news, swallows announcing spring, mandarin ducks playing in the water and butterflies flying in pairs, which are both beautiful and romantic and meaningful.
Whether in ancient or modern times, marriage requires a marriage room. In the wedding custom museum, carefully decorated wedding rooms were set up in private houses, with red lanterns hanging high, wooden windows and red bedding, which were filled with festive atmosphere.
When you go to Tongli ancient town, you can visit here, feel the beautiful details of ancient people's marriage and touch the celebrations hundreds of years ago.
Address: Inside Tongli Ancient Town, Wujiang District, Suzhou
Transportation: Drive to Tongli Ancient Town and find Chongben Hall in the ancient town.
Author: Lin, a well-known traveler and traveler, practiced his life in the mountains and rivers.