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[yangye0305]

Dear all:
I am a lady of Shanghai, China, so English is not the mother language for me. In fact, my English is not good.
I write some aritles about intrduction of Shanghai and travel in Shanghai. If you find the grammer mistakes, please corret them. Thank you ! And if you are interested in Shanghai, you also can contact me . I will share you what I know.
Enjoy


Marriage
On Valentine Day, which was on February 14th. My friend and I went outside; we saw lots of the lovers and almost female took a flower in their hands whether she was a young girl or a senior lady. Though it is a western festival, more and more Chinese like it. And we saw a young boy propose to his beautiful girlfriend, fortunately, he was successful. We were all happily to see that.
How do you get married today in China? At first, you must find your spouse. Young people are free to choose their spouses. Some people get married after a period of courting; others get to know each other through a relative or a friend as matchmaker or through matchmaking service. In choosing partners, most people base themselves on personality and material wealth.
After getting the good wishes from their parents, lovers will go to the Civil Affair Ministry, which is the government office that has the right to assign the certification of marriage. After getting this certification, they are the couples. (The couples used to be asked for the paper of company�s agreement and required to take the health check but not any more.)
As for the customs, picking a lucky wedding date and wedding ceremony have been preserved. But the style of wedding ceremony has been changed. Normally in the afternoon bride will be picked up by the groom and his relatives and friends to the groom� s family in a luxury car. Mercedes Bens are the top choice and they are decorated with the red paper of double happiness. The dominant color is still red. After the bride meets the groom�s parents they would go to a nice hotel to have their wedding banquet followed by grand feast. And honeymoon trips are new part, which were borrowed from western about 10 years ago. Nowadays some young people would like to go to the church to have a western wedding ceremony first and then continue to attend the following Chinese wedding ceremony.
After the honeymoon trips, the matrimony is just beginning. Both husband and wife will take the responsibility of household work. Also it�s a trend to hire a made. It will just cost 6-10 yuan per hour and 600-1000 yuan per month provided with meals and accommodation.
Maybe after several years, they will have a baby. But many couples worry that they cannot afford to have a child. Maybe pressure and competition at work is a factor.
In the meanwhile, Dink has become a new lifestyle for young couples in big cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai. According to statistics, 12% of Chinese families are dink.
�Divorce� always is not happy word, especially in the past, divorce was considered a scandal in Chinese society, but is more accepted now. The divorce rate in China is 10%, in Shanghai now is 25% and in Beijing is roughly 50%.
Attitudes towards divorce have changed. When a couple�s marriage breaks down, they now give more consideration as to how to arrange their children�s lives, as well as their own, after a divorce. Practical problems like housing, property, and child rising have to be squarely faced.
With procedure of marriage has been eased, same with that of divorce. Still the civil affair ministry is the one who could make it happen. If the couples have an agreement of their housing, property and child rising, it is really easy to get devoiced. If not, the only option is court. Of course if the couples property haven�t been notarized, will make it more completed. So that�s why more and more couple choose to get their property notarized before marriage.
What is the old tradition in getting married?
Usually, it includes the following steps:
Firstly is Proposing: If an unmarried boy's parents identify a girl as their future daughter-in-law, then they will find a matchmaker. Proposal used to be practiced by a matchmaker. The matchmaker will formally present his or her client's request to the identified girl's parents.
Secondly is Birthday matching: If the potential bride's parents do not object the marriage, the matchmaker will ask for the girl's birthday and birth hour record to assure the compatibility of the potential bride and bridegroom. If the couple's birthdays and birth hours do not conflict according to astrology, the marriage will step into the next stage. Once there is any conflict, meaning the marriage will bring disasters to the boy's family or the girl's, the proposed marriage stops.
Thirdly is Presenting wedding gifts: The bridegroom's family was supposed to send wedding gifts to the bride's family. Usually, gifts may include tea, lotus seeds, longan, red beans, green beans, red dates, nutmeg, oranges, pomegranate, lily, bridal cakes, coconuts, wine, red hair braid, money box and other stuff, depending on local customs and family wealth
Fourthly is Picking a wedding date: An astrologist or astrology book will be consulted to select an auspicious date to hold the wedding ceremony.
Fifthly is Wedding ceremony. On the selected day, the bridegroom departs with a troop of escorts and musicians, playing happy music all the way to the bride's home. After the bride is escorted to the bridegroom's home, the wedding ceremony begins.
Different with the West, the dominant color on traditional Chinese wedding is red, almost every thing. Chinese tend to apply red to add happy atmosphere in such big days
The bride and bridegroom are led to the family altar, where the couple pays kowtows to Heaven and Earth, the family ancestors and parents successively. Then they bow to each other and will be led to the bridal chamber. The ceremony proceeds under a director's prompts and applauses of the audience
Then there will be a grand feast for relatives and those who help in the wedding. The newlywed couple will resume to drink wedlock wine. Generally they are required to cross their arms to sip the wine and then exchange their cups to gulp down. They also will toast with guests to pay their thanks. Good wishes of the guests rush to the couple. However, well-intentioned people will try their best to fuddle the bridegroom who is dodging to avoid the embarrassing scene.
The special activities are held in the bridal chamber. It is called Teasing games. After night falls, the teasing games start. Usually all young men can participate except for the bride's married brothers-in-law. Those funny and silly games will ease the tension, since in ancient times the newlyweds never met each other before the wedding! Most of the games require the shy couple to act like wife and husband