Shanghai'd

Wedding.

Last night, Tim and I attended our first Chinese hunli. The groom was my boss's driver, Shen Jun (affectionately named "James" - he is, after all, a driver :-) The Chinese wedding is one interesting time. Since we came with my boss, and he is also James' boss, we got to sit at the 2nd to head table. We were strategically placed with the only two English speakers in the family. However, after all the huangjiu (yellow wine) toasts, Chinese was just fine.

Here are some of the interesting wedding traditions we got to witness and take part in:

- Hongbao, what better gift than cash in a red envelope?
- MC with the TV-commercial voice
- Camera-man constantly smoking, holding a cigarette near the lens. Makes for a foggy wedding video.


- Fireworks, indoors
- Huangjiu toasts, every 5 minutes for 3 hours
- Unending food, the dishes kept coming...
- The bride cigarette lighting ceremony. This one could probably use some explanation. In Shanghainese, 'light a cigarette' sounds very similar to 'have a baby soon'. Very interesting. And really disgusting.
- Bride Costume change. She had 3 outfits: the white wedding dress, a prom-like dress, and a qipao (traditional Chinese)
- And finally, being escorted out by the happy couple. We were the first to leave. Party poopers.
- We missed out on the next step - following the bride and groom back to their bedroom! Apparently, when they get there the family gets to tell them to do anything and they have to do it. Get your mind out of the gutter, its all good clean fun.

It was a lot of fun, I hope we get to attend more!