In ancient China, a man could have multiple wives, and it was possible for the youngest concubine to be a teenager while the husband was an old man. Also, poor families often sold their young daughters to rich families for money.

Since 1950, the Chinese government has promulgated a law which states that one man can only get married with one woman. It offends the law for anyone to have more than one wife.

In the past, parent arranged marriages were very common. Usually young people would have their spouse selected by their parents. Sometimes young people would have the first look at their spouse at their wedding. It was also common that an arranged marriage was organized even before the child was born, if parents from both families agreed.

In modern times, things have changed quite a lot. The concept of free love prevails and lovers can choose to get married with whomever they choose. Of course, in order to show respect to their parents, formal agreements still have to be obtained prior to any proper marriage procedure.

Even the more modern matchmakers businesses are all thriving because some people find it hard to meet an ideal partner.

Before getting married

Before getting married, young people have to pay a formal visit to each other's parents. When visiting the woman's parents, the man has to bring betrothal gifts to show sincerity. Once the gifts are received, the man and the woman are formally engaged. When the woman visits the man's parents, the parents have to prepare a formal gift for the future daughter-in-law.

In China, the newly weds will usually move in with the man's family, though it is not entirely uncommon for them to live with the woman's family. In modern times, young couples often prefer to live alone without the parents if they can afford to pay for a new flat or house.

One traditional wedding procedure is that the bride has to prepare a dowry to be brought to the bridegroom's family on the wedding day. A dowry is comprised of things bought by the bride's family, including clothes, accessories, daily necessities and etc.

Choosing a good day to hold the wedding is very important in Chinese culture. A wedding, being such an important day in a person's life, has to be held on a day which symbolizes goodness. People will choose the best day based on the Chinese Lunar calendar, or on any festival days.

The wedding ceremony

A formal Chinese wedding requires the bridegroom to pick up the bride at the bride's home after respectfully greeting the parents-in-law to be. The couple-to-be will then go to the bridegroom's home, where the bride will greet her parents-in-law to be, or to the banquet location. If they choose to go to the bridegroom's home, the young couple will have to greet the parents-in-law to be with a cup of tea each and the parents will return the daughter-in-law to be with a red packet of money inside. Similar to western culture, the bride and bridegroom will be accompanied by bridesmaids and best men.

One very important procedure is the banquet. All relatives and friends are invited and they will wish the new couple all the best. At the banquet, the newly weds have to drink half glass of wine from a pair of glasses linked by a ribbon. After that the newly weds have to cross-hands and drink the other half of the wine. It is believed that after this ceremony the newly weds will love each other more dearly.

In some parts of China, the fish served in the banquet should not entirely eaten. The head, tail and the whole skeleton of the fish should be left untouched so as to symbolize a good start and end of a marriage.

After the banquet, friends of the new couple will usually continue the night by deliberately disturbing the new couple with a few games. Games will include different requests for difficult performances or questions. Unfortunately for the newly weds, these games usually last till very late in the night!

However in modern times, many young people try to skip most of these rituals or ceremonies. They do that either because they think new generations should not be confined by old traditions, or sometimes for economical reasons.