Riding to the town in a crazy motorized rickshaw with Qin Chen and her mom (her mom held my arm and hand the whole way and laughed - it was awesome!)On Sunday we had a slow start to the day and ended up heading directly to a neighboring town for the start of the wedding festivities - a banquet-style lunch.
I was a little worried about being rude because Sean and I hadn't exactly been invited to the wedding nor did we know the bride or groom. Qin Chen assured us that it would be fine since we were friends of hers and we were going to be taking the place of two other relatives who couldn't be there anyways.
The continuously entertaining thing about being in China, or in any other culture for that matter, is that your expectations are rarely ever accurate and most of the time it's simply better to avoid any predictions whatsoever of future events. Attending this wedding was no exception and was filled with plenty of surprises, miscommunication and awkwardness along with lots of fun.
Upon entering the lunch we found out that a) we were horribly late b) all the guests had been waiting for us c) We were to sit at the head table with me sitting next to the groom's father d) I was pretty under-dressed in jeans and a t-shirt (I didn't know we were going to lunch, I had thought we were only going to the evening part of the wedding . . . oh was I wrong).
But things went fine and it was fascinating to watch the events unfold. Lunch was served which involved layer upon layer of fantastic dishes stacked on top of each other; there was definitely no shortage of food. By the end of the day I would feel as though I had gained five pounds especially because of the overly worried and hospitable Chinese people at my table who felt obligated to pile things on my plate in an attempt to make me eat more.
The bride and groom entered and looked amazing. She was wearing the traditional red Chinese qipao and the groom was wearing a suit. They went around to each table, toasted everyone, collected their hong bao and gave each person a small gift (pink hand towels in this case). A hong bao is a red envelope which contains money and is given on special occasions like weddings and Spring Festival. I have asked students how much Chinese people give for weddings and in my opinion they are way more generous than we are. Even if the wedding is fairly extravagant, most Chinese couples make money on their wedding and use what they are given to buy an apartment and start their new life together. In the Chinese tradition, the groom's family pays for the wedding and the bride's family has to give a nice gift to the couple (kind of like a dowry) which might include anything from a new washing machine to a new car or a new apartment.
After lunch we walked around the little town and were frequently stopped and asked to take pictures with people we didn't even know. When this happened, a circle of 20-30 people would form to stand around and gawk at the foreigners. Living in Changzhou, it is easy to forget that in many parts of China foreign visitors are still an anomaly.
Sean, Qin Chen and I - thanks for a great weekend Qin Chen!!!When we tired of fighting off the crowds, Qin Chen, Sean and I retreated to a nearby restaurant to hang out and relax. While waiting for the next part of the wedding to start, Qin Chen taught us how to play Chinese Poker which was a lot of fun but way different from the little bit of poker that I am familiar with. There are a million crazy rules (Sean swears that Qin Chen was making them up as she went) and she warned that there are regional variations as well if we ever dare to play outside of Jiangsu province.
that sounds like such an amazing experience - thanks for sharing, Sarah :)