Eric's Beijing Diary

Sister Rose got married today, and she had asked me to bring a greeting, so Shannon picked me up, because she had agreed to interpret for me. It was a very nice low-key house church ceremony, not a big fancy wedding. There are basically three types of weddings in China. There is the public office wedding, where couples go to register with the government. For some people, this is the only wedding they have. Then there is the family wedding. Depends on the family, but in many villages in China, this is the wedding that counts. In fact, in some villages, people don't even bother with the official registration. They don't think it's important. Finally, there is the church wedding. For Christians, this is the important one.

Rose's wedding was held in a hotel, mainly, I suppose because her church does not have a building. The style and arrangement pretty much followed the pattern of a western Christian wedding, except that there were people in the audience letting off streamers when she was walking down the aisle. I have never seen anything like that at an American Christian wedding, but it would be very common at a Chinese family wedding. Oh, and her fiance, a preacher from the countryside, didn't quite have the nerve to kiss her. He just gave her a big hug.