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Naming of a Chinese baby
Family and children is a big theme in Chinese concept. How to
name a baby will take the whole family to consider carefully.
A baby is often named after the surname of its father. The first
character of the given name should follow the family tradition
to reflect which generation the baby belongs to. The characters
used in name are those meaning fortune, peace, luck or something
good.
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Birthday
Birthday cake is now popular in China. In addition, some traditional
activities still take effect when people celebrate their birthdays.
Noodles and peach-shaped dumplings cannot be omitted because
both of them have the meaning of long life. Birthdays of decades
(birthdays at decadal years) are much more important than others.
Birthday feast, if there is, will go like a family reunion.
If one reaches 60, then the birthday will be very ceremonious.
To most Chinese people, 60 is the circle of life, called one
Jia Zi( a kind of counting time method exclusively found in
China).
Wedding
The sophisticated wedding ceremony has melted away for long
time. If not at the critical point of feudal system, modern
people will see those ancient and traditional ritual procedures
nothing but funny and interesting. The sedan and formal costumes
can only appear on TV shows or stay silently in museum. The
things remaining till today include betrothal gift, engagement
and wedding feast.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the marriage customs, based
on the forms of the "Zhou Decorum", have gone through a long
process of refinement in expressing moral virtues and good wishes.
On the carefully selected day of wedding, before bridegroom
arrives, the father of bride will dress clothes to his daughter,
which indicates that his daughter has grown up. The bridegroom
then will escort her to the wedding ceremony. Usually the bride
will sit on a sedan carried by at least four young men.
The climax of wedding comes at " bowing to Heaven and Earth".
The bridegroom and bride will bow to the God and the parents,
and also bow to each other in the end. It is held in a wedding
hall with luxurious decorations. Chinese character Xi (happiness)
will be placed in the middle of the wall. On an altar table,
some big plates hold all kinds of food, symbolizing prosperity
and good future. Typically we have Chinese jujubes (in Chinese
sounds like 'zao', meaning soon), peanuts (in Chinese sounds
like "sheng", meaning giving birth to) and longans
(in Chinese sounds like "gui", meaning precious) and
sunflower seeds (in Chinese sounds like "zi", meaning
son), then the full sentence makes "zaoshengguizi",
meaning expecting a son soon.
During the whole ceremony, a bridal band is necessary. At least
six trumpet blowers play propitious music. What's more, people
will light red candles and set off firecrackers according to
tradition.
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