Late Sunday afternoon, November 16, we went to a Chinese wedding. It was interesting to see how it compared to a Christian wedding. This entry will be mainly pictures. The first is what we saw when we entered a second floor banquet hall about an hour before the ceremony began.
From our table the front looked quite different than the front of a church for a Christian wedding.
If I remember I will have Jiajing explain the following two pictures when I see her at my home in Texas at Thanksgiving time. The first picture is on the left side of the stage and was the first main point of activity.
Activity then moved to the right side of the stage and involved the use of rice wine in making toasts.
A view from the front corner looking toward the back just before the bride entered.
Smoking and drinking was a very big part of the ceremony. Cigarettes were in quantity by the case and smoked by the pack at each table. If only they understood the health risks of their smoking.
Across the street on a building was this large bright electronic billboard. When we dimmed the lights for our ceremony certain ads brightened our room up again. There is almost no place you can sit in our building and not have the ads in your face.
Since this is a wedding I should probably show you the bride.
Let’s show the back side of the groom.
As we left the building I couldn’t help notice the new concept grand piano at the front entrance.
The grand piano was a fitting symbol for how I felt about the wedding. There was tradition and culture, but it clearly reflected a culture that does not believe in a personal God. A Christian wedding has a center of focus on God and brings everything around him which adds a deep dimension I felt missing here.
As I watched the ceremony I was deeply moved by my thoughts of another possible wedding; that of Jiajing. She is a wonderful young lady that understands this culture but has come to embrace the Christian culture and its meaning. I wondered what she would do in the face of these two cultures.
