Traditional Chinese Culture And Chinese Marriage Theology Religion Essay

Traditional Chinese Culture And Chinese trades union Theology Religion EssayMarriage is an definitive ruin of life. Different acculturations have their testify tradition to celebrate this big as yett. through with(predicate) understanding the conventional customs of espousal, we could learn more about the nations culture and determine. In this essay, features of tralatitious Chinese join leave al integrity be introduced and we exit direct at how Chinese Culture and tralatitious values argon involved and influence the conventional Chinese marriage culture.Introduction initiative of all, we should have some brief understanding on some rudi workforcetary traditional values about families and the ancient Chinese high society. In traditional Chinese culture, the family units atomic number 18 the basic units of the society which forms the nation. When the family units argon well-ordered, the society willing hence become well-organized and eventually form a harmonious nation. And for curtilage years, Confucianism has a very deep influence to Chinese culture and has crucial impact in diametric aspects of the Chinese society. Confucianism is a philosophy which emphasizes on the chaste ethics of states behaviours in daily life. It is a set of moral and ethical rules or ideas that dictate how a person should behave. It plays a break role in forming the amicable norms of the Chinese society (Yu 69).Patriarchal edict and valuesTraditional Chinese families are clan and patriarchal based. A clan is composed by descendants of the same(p) ascendents and families which inherit the same surname. A clan emphasis extensively on kinship and countercurrent relationship, they are regarded as an extension and the continuity of the family. Traditional family ever lay out the clans interests above personal interests and personal honor as the clans honor and rape are well-nigh related to iodine self. These values play a signifi stinkpott role in tr aditional Chinese marriage culture.Marriage in WuLun ()In Confucianism, one of ethical and moral rules on the individuals and sociable interaction is WuLun () . WuLun indicates the five major relationships within a society. The Five Relationships are King to subject, Father to son, Husband to wife, Elder buddy to younger br otherwise and Friend to friend (Yu 94). Maintaining penny-pinching relationships will stability and prosperity of the society and embrace the whole nation to live in harmony. One of the relationships which I would like to mention is Husband to wife, in other words, it is about marriage. To the Confucians, marriage is important to both the clan and the society. The marriage not only symbolizes the connective of two individuals but to a fault the joining of two families with different surnames. Therefore, marriage screw act as a medium to connect different families and clans to form a society and even nations. To certain extent, a good relationship of marriage is believed to bring harmony to the society and the whole gentlemans gentleman is a big family.Arranged Marriage and matchingFor traditional Chinese marriage, lots of constraints were as well as attached with. First of all, a marriage is al fashions pre-arranged by parents, but not based on the couples love and sustain choice. One of the reasons is that the marriages are usually associated with political reasons and benefits. But the most important one is that the marriage is a major family event and it is a reckon of the clan, therefore the marriage must be decided by the parents and individuals must subject to eldership. Brides and grooms will only see or know apiece other until the wed day comes ( Gu 137).Moreover, as the Chinese said, Bamboo approach to bamboos one, wood door to woods one. To choose an ideal partner, the wealth and social status of the family must also take into consideration. To the male side, the marriage is at a time affecting the prosperity and th e reputation of their family in the future. The fame of the family and social status of the family is exceedingly important in traditional Chinese value. People would tend to look for potential families who had similar or same social status as they were to marry with. Therefore a boy who comes from a wealthy family will never be permitted by his parents to marry a girl from a poor family.Confucians emphasize on Li Li, or the rites, are the guidelines for people to behave properly. It emphasizes respect to others and surroundings through rules and ceremonies. The ideas of Li are closely related to ethics, gentle temper and social order in society. Li is essential and favourable to society because it encourages and reminds people to aware and fulfills their responsibilities towards others. iii earn Six etiquettes Marriage also has guidelines and rites to follow and procedures are written big money in the Book of Rites. Each of the complex procedures has its own symbolic importat ion and part of the essential processes in traditional Chinese wedding are the Three Letters Six etiquettes. The Three Letters are the plight letter, gift letter and the wedding letter. These letters are the formal documents with the means of engagement, gift and confirmation of the marriage. The Six etiquettes are proposal, assessing nascence date, dumb nominateing mesh gifts, presenting wedding gifts, setting a wedding date, and finally the wedding ceremony (Chinese societal Customs). ProposalAfter the parents of the male side choose a girl, they would hence find a matcher and her role is topropose and present the male familys request to the girls family and parents.Birth date assessmentIf the brides parents did not oppose to the marriage, the matchmaker would ask the birth date and hour of the bride to ensure the couples compatibility. If there were signs of conflicts mingled with the numbers, which is believed to bring disasters to both families, then the proposed marri age will abandoned immediately.Presenting betrothal giftsAfter both of the birth dates and hours were approved, the bridegrooms family would ask the matchmaker to arrange and present betrothal gifts to the brides family along with the betrothal letter.Presenting wedding giftsThe bridegrooms family would send wedding gifts officially to the brides family. Gifts usually include tea, beans, oranges, pomegranates, bridal cakes, coconuts, wine, red hair braids, lilies and m any(prenominal) other delicacies, each with symbolic meaning in the wedding and the gifts can also fork over the familys wealthSetting a wedding dateAn benignant date is select for the wedding ceremony.CeremonyOn that day, the bridegroom departs his own home and play loud and cheerful music along the way to the brides home. During the wedding ceremony, both bride and groom have to stand side by side and make three succumbs. Three bows is the most important rites in the ceremony. The first bow is made to the Heaven and human race and ancestors. The second bow is to parents and the third one is to each other. (Chinese Wedding traditions)From the above wedding procedures Three Letters Six etiquettes, two main traditional Chinese values can be observed.First, under the Confucian dry landview, Chinese believe that the world is structured by sancai (Heaven, Earth and Human) and they all share the same nature and this nature is characterized by harmony. Confucian considers people and nature as a whole and any confrontation with the nature will destroy the harmony. Therefore, assessing birth dates and hours for choosing the correct bride and setting an appropriate wedding date is to avoid any confrontation between the nature and human. Choosing the right bride and right date can avoid any disasters from happening and prevent bad luck, and the marriage is then considered as auspicious, which brings good fortune.Second, the ceremonies show the significance of filial piety.Amongst the 100 virtues, fi lial piety come first. Filial piety can be referring to proficient respect and unquestioning obedience to parents. But it is more than that. Confucians consider filial piety as the most important virtue and must be shown not only towards to parents and elders, but also the dead. Reverence for ancestors and worship them is also part of the filial piety. People believe that the ancestor in heaven will bring peace and happiness to the clan descendants. Filial piety, by extension, is showing respect to the past and to the whole nation. We could see this virtue good from the Three Bows in the wedding ceremony. The wedding ceremony takes place at the family hall because it is an important event for the family, the clan and ancestors. The three bows first shows great respect to the nature and then show filial piety to ancestor and parents. And in another ceremony, tea ceremony, the new couples have to kneel mow while serving tea to parents and elder in order to show filial piety to the m (Katie).Male puckaity in Chinese traditional familyAs mentioned earlier, the traditional Chinese adopted Patriarchy. It is a social governance that male is central to both family and society, and where men h rare authority and personnel over children and women. It shows the higher status of male than female, in terms of agent and marriage.In traditional Chinese society, men were thought to be the one to continue on with the family line. For this reason, men had a higher status than women in both family and society, as they were the powerful ones who could lead and organize the whole family, even to sustain the continuity of the family (Lan, Peng, Mei 126 )For women, they were only organism characterized as assisting men in traditional family they had relatively low social status by then. The saying A womanhood lacking in talent and learnedness is virtuous shows the difference between men and women, which womens role would only be a stay-home mother who takes care of the rest and breed.Inheritance of the family line is the most importantUnder the influence of patriarchy, another reason for having marriage is to put across birth to the next generation, as the major role of women back then. In order to successfully earn birth to a boy, men would catch up with married with more than one wife, which were allowed in the traditional society. It was not being seen as problematic because having children and sustaining a family was vital for all in the old times.In the other hand, this also shows the low status of women in traditional Chinese society. The septette reasons for divorce can best illustrate the phenomenon. The seven reasons is a list of behaviors for which a man would be justified in divorcing his wife. The most concerned one criterion in relation to the continuity of family would be the third one a woman could be break if she did not bear a child.People see family as the most important element in society. Although womens social status was rel atively low, they had compete an important role in giving birth to children. This was also their in the first place function in a marriage life. That is why if a woman is incapable of carrying a child, the meaning to the marriage to her husband would be gone. So men could use such reason to marry another wife or divorce the wife who couldnt give birth to a child. terminusLots of Chinese traditional culture and values are found in the culture of Chinese marriage. For traditional Chinese marriage, the benefits of families were always more important than individuals. The traditional Chinese marriage was pre-arranged between parents of two families. And traditional Chinese marriage involves lots of complex procedures. Among them, they shows the great emphasis on rites (Li) in Chinese traditional culture and among the rites and the rules, we could easily observe one of the most important virtues filial piety. Children should always respect parents and ancestors. Traditional Chinese peo ple also emphasis on maintain harmony with the nature, they believed that human and nature were united, that is why the new couples have to bow to the Heaven and Earth first during the Three Bows. In Patriarchal society, male are superior to female and the inheritance of the family line is significantly important. To do so, male can get married with multiple wives and divorce any wife that couldnt give birth to child.(Word Count2020)