The Bridal Boat: Traditional Marriage Customs of China’s Fifty-f

Description

The Bridal Boat: Traditional Marriage Customs of China’s Fifty-five Ethnic Minorities

Author: Compiled by Ye Dabing; Translated by Mark Bender and Shi Kun

Order No. 3177

ISBN-13: 9787800051807

ISBN-10: 7800051803

Binding: Paperback

Publisher: New World Press

Pub Year: 1993

Pages: 204

Language: English

Size: 5 x 8.25

Price: $16.00

The Bridal Boat describes, in great detail, the marriage traditions of China’s fifty-five ethnic minorities, from the Uygur tradition of the groom shooting the bride with a blunt arrow to the Hani custom of pelting the groom with olives. The book contributes to our understanding of China’s minority nationalities and their rites of passage.

In China ethnic groups with cultural characteristics that clearly distinguish them form other groups are called “minority nationalities.” They differ from the majority of Chinese, who are members of the Han nationality, in language, tradition, race, or religion. The marriage ceremonies of the Chinese minorities, like such practices anywhere, are important rites of passage. Birth, puberty, marriage, and death are recognized as important events in the lives of these peoples. All known cultures seem to need, in varying degrees, to mark all or some of these changes in an individual’s status. The rituals help a person understand and accept his or her new position.