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Chinese wedding rituals, from hair combing to door games to tea ceremonies, explained
Find out who conducts the pre-wedding hair-combing ceremony, how to play door games on the big day and the role a red umbrella plays
Reading Time:4 minutes
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A Chinese wedding has many of the trappings of a Western marriage and in addition rituals, traditions and matters of etiquette to follow. In our series on Chinese weddings, we break these down and tell you how to get everything right.
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Chinese culture is full of traditions and customs, and weddings are no exception.
There are six rituals that couples traditionally follow as part of their wedding festivities to maximise good luck: guo da li (also known as the betrothal ceremony); preparing the bride’s dowry; setting up the bridal bed; a hair-combing ceremony; leaving the bride’s home; and entering the groom’s home.
To learn more about the first three – including why coconuts are given as part of guo da li, how many sets of clothes should be in the bride’s dowry and why children need to jump on the bridal bed – see our previous article about Chinese wedding rituals.
Here we explore the latter three.
1. Hair-combing ceremony
The day before the wedding, couples separately go through a hair-combing ceremony to signify that they are ready for marriage.
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