by Shao Kenan

Editor's Note: China has a colorful cultural background with 56 different ethnic nationalities living in the country. Han is the major ethnic group but the other 55 minor elasticities contribute to the Chinese culture as well. In this issue, iChina will take you on a trip into some of these minor nationalities to admire the wonderful traditions, beautiful costumes and different lifestyles. In this issue, the photographer (Shao Kenan) will take us to a Miao wedding. The Miao ethnic minority has a population of 8,940,116, which is larger than most of the minority groups in China. After a long history of migration, today they live mainly in Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, and Hainan Provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. They are divided into several branches, such as the Black Hmong, White Hmong, Striped Hmong, etc. The Miao language, which belongs to the Miao-Yao group of the Sino-Tibetan phylum, has developed into three dialects: the dialect of the western Hunan Province, the one of the eastern Guizhou Province, and the one of ChuanQianDian (Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan). Due to time spent living with the Han and other people, they can also speak the Chinese, Dong and Zhuang languages. They have been writing their own Miao language, based on Latin, since 1956.

 Pic1: The word usually spreads early when there is a wedding in a Miao village. The bride's home hosts a so-called "flowing feast, "which is a feast held for people who come and eat for a whole day. The families and relatives living far away, and the people in the village come to the feast, which runs from noon untill the dark of night. Of course, you can't come with nothing. Usually people bring 20 yuan. Close friends will bring 100 yuan. I paid 100 yuan, which made me one of the closest friends to the family. At 10:00 am, May 21, 2008, when I was on my way to the feast, lots of people followed me down the mountain, carrying their presents. That was almost a mile away from the bride's house.

Pic2&3: A man in charge of collecting the gift money was waiting, but the bride would not
show up. The relatives brought towels, blankets, pots, etc. for wedding presents. Others paid 20
yuan and waited for the feast. The family encounter seemed really happy. 

 Pic4. The whole village smelled delicious because of the fresh pork cooked in the pots. "Try my cooking later," a man told me confidently. He was the uncle of the bride, and a carpenter. 

Pic6: Most of the guests that day were women and children.

Pic7: Men enjoyed drinking and drinking games. The white plastic container was filled with drink. They drank from big bowls, one bowl at a time. Everybody could drink a lot.

Pic8: Come on, people! With 20 yuan you can join the  feast which is supplied with fresh chicken, pork, vegetables and rice. It was such a food festival that you could eat as much as you could. The food was endless. You could take a break and go back to eat again. But if you are a man, you had better join in the drinking because it looks like only the
women and children keep eating.

 Pic9&10: The bride was all dressed up when I got to her house. Miao brides don't use make-up. A little shyness, a little expectation, and the beautiful bride was waiting for her moment. I was her wedding photographer. She received my photos two months after the wedding.

 Pic 11&12: he father of the bride was smoking with mixed
feelings, both sadness and happiness. I tried to understand his feelings, but I couldn't really read him.

Pic 13,14: The bride's escorting team left the house.

The bride had five brothers and three sisters. She was the third daughter. When I arrived at their house, they were still preparing. I had breakfast at their house. Every other guest was welcomed for breakfast too. After breakfast, the boys carried the dowry away first. Then the married sisters of the bride began putting their traditional costumes on, each with a comb in their hair. The unmarried sisters would still dress casually. The combs in their hair are a signal showing the world if they are married or not. When a Miao family marries off their daughter, the parents don't show up at the wedding. Someone else represents them. For this wedding, they didn't have any possessions like cars, or any music. The two families lived close by one another, so they just walked by foot to visit one another. People had to climb onto the mountain to get to the feast, but because of a little rain, the road was muddy.

Pic 15: The groom was pushed towards the bride. He still looked to be very shy. 

Pic 16: I made the new couple pose for this picture. The groom was too shy, so I had to put his arm around the bride's shoulders.

The people who represented the bride's parents led the team, followed by two unmarried girls. Then there was the bride, her sisters and her relatives. Men were absolutely needed because when they arrived at the groom's house, another big drinking feast was waiting for them. Lucky for this bride, her father had eight siblings. There were a lot of people to accompany the bride to her future home. This groom was not that rich, which was why he didn't get married until he was 26 years old. In Miao tradition, the marriage age for men is usually 20, and for women, 19. Marriage would generally cost the groom's family around 20 to 30 thousand yuan, which is a small fortune for a family. The parents usually begin saving wedding money for the boys years ahead of when it is needed. The rain could have been one of the reasons that the guests for the groom's house feast seemed fewer than the bride's. The groom's house was surrounded by bamboo mats which functioned as the walls. There was a small TV set in the house. There were also some wood boards alongside the wall which people used for benches. The people accompanying the bride began drinking right after they sat on the boards. I took some pictures but didn't really want to burden their feast, even though I paid 100 yuan for my share.

 Pic 17: The men in the bride's escort team began drinking right after they settled down. When the bowl
was emptied, someone would fill it up again, and this was repeated until you surrendered.

Pic 18: The women were standing opposite the men. What a beautiful view! Another huge feast was about to start. I really couldn't drink any more, so I had to sneak away….

This article appeared in print on 2009 Jan. Issue of iChina Magazine

Last update: 09-03-2009 16:44