FAMILY+LIFE





Copyrighted by: **Irene H & Kaley M** By Kaley M **
 * Chinese Traditional Weddings

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Have you ever been to a wedding? Have you seen the bride's white dress, the cake, flowers, decorations, and gifts? Marriage all around the world is important, especially in China. In ancient China, the wedding was able to occur due to the matchmaker and parents role, the customs practiced each year, and the actual ceremony. ======

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Do you know what an arranged marriage is? This is the type of marriage most people had in ancient China. In an arranged marriage, parents get to decide who their son or daughter will marry when they are a child, or even before being born. Can you imagine knowing who you will one day marry... even as a kid? ======

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Then the matchmaker steps in. This is a woman who plans the process, including the gift giving, customs, and actual ceremony. She is like the party planner you may see today at a big party. ======

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The Chinese wedding also included special traditions, passed down from generation to generation. This is like if you grandfather used to do something, then your parents did it, and now you do it. This practice may be very important to your family, like it was for ancient Chinese weddings. one special tradition is gift giving where "These gifts were presented again to the girl's family, symbolizing respect and kindness toward the girl's family as well as the capability of providing a good life for the girl" (Chinese Marriage Customs). ======

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The Chinese wedding was special due to the actual ceremony. This celebration allows the two people to enjoy the rest of their lives together. At the actual ceremony, there is bowing at an alter, the drinking of wine and tea, and decorations of red. Most weddings we see today include a woman wearing a white dress. Can you imagine no spoken vowels and the woman wearing a red dress? This is what happened at the traditional wedding ceremony. ======

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Marriage has been an important custom all around the world, including ancient China. This custom consisted of the matchmaker and parents help, the traditions passed down each generation, and to finish off, a classic ceremony. Once the bride enters her husbands home, their life together begins. ======
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China's One-Child Policy By Irene H **

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You may think your sibling is annoying, either always getting in trouble or just bothering you. But take your siblings for granted, since in China, about every child is an **only child** because of a law. They will never be able to experience having a sibling even if they wish to. This one child policy affects China in good ways and bad. ======

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This law helps control the population of China, which is really, really important. China is the largest country in the world, about 4 times larger than the USA! If China becomes too populated, it can cause deaths and many problems. People would be fighting over food and space! The one-child policy is definitely working since it "has prevented about 400 million births" and the population is "growing at the rate of 0.6 percent" (CNN). ======

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Some families just really want more than one kid and believed they could have another child if they paid some money to the government to keep it. Sadly though, one woman, Wei Linrong, was pregnant with her second child but government officials came and forced her to get rid of the child because of the law. Her husband and her were devastated over the death of their second child. This isn't a good thing at all, since it can be really harsh. ======

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What would you guys do if you didn't have any girls to marry, because they all ran out!? Well, that is happening in China, because of this one-child policy. Since many couples want sons and there's only one chance, they will try and get rid of their baby if it's a girl. In China, couples prefer boys over females. There is a large difference in the number of males and females. This can have bad results on society, including guys 'buying' females for their wives, which isn't good at all. There are many reasons for this law that seems ridiculous to us, Americas, but in China it is necessary for them. Though there may be some bad sides to this law, it really is used to help control China's booming population. So kids, Enjoy your siblings! Be happy, you have that type of companionship that kids in China can not have. ======

//__ **Work Cited** __//
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 70%; text-align: left; display: block;">A Crowd of People. [Online Image] available http://www.slaughterphoto.com/Artists/4891/Mediums/Medium_619200661131PM_Olympics,%20Los%20Angeles,%201984,%20Coliseum%20Crowd.jpg, March 12, 2009

Baby Crying. [Online Image] available http://www.health-in-action.org/library/pdf/Shaken%20Baby/Images/sm%20shake%20baby%20with%20bkgd.jpg, March 12, 2009 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-align: left; display: block;">"China to keep one-child policy - CNN.com." __CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News__. 13 Mar. 2009 <http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/10/china.onechild/>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 70%; text-align: left; display: block;"> "Chinese Marriage Customs, Wedding Ceremony, China Groom & Bride." __China Travel Guide, China Tours, Tibet Beijing Packages, 24/7 Service__. 23 Feb. 2009 <http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/marriage/>.

Chinese Wedding Attire. [Online Image] Avaliable http://www.wedlok.com/Chinese%20bride%20and%20groom.jpg, March 13, 2009

Gender signs. [Online Image] Avaliable http://www.fallingpixel.com/products/5687/mains/toilet%20signs_01_0000.jpg, March 12, 2008

Gift Giving. [Online Image] Avaliable http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-17542683.jpg?size=572&uid=%7B3113D720-47B6-4DDF-B75E-47B5C3EE5E9C%7D, March 13, 2009

Mulan Matchmaker. [Online Image] Avaliable http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/5082/matchmaker.jpg, March 13, 2009