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Q: Why no dancing at Chinese weddings?
I am off to a hometown wedding again next weekend. A Guangdong wedding, so the usual day long stuff.
There will be a meal for 100's of people, and then boom. meal finished. All go home with their da bao.
Why no dance afterwards?
I have only been to weddings in Guangdong. They are all the same.
Do people dance into the early hours in your provence?
Dancing is a western imperialist evil so must be avoided at all costs!
Dancing is a western imperialist evil so must be avoided at all costs!
I must admit that wedding parties are a bit odd in guangdong.
The bride and groom only know a small proportion of the entire gathering that largely consists of random people. I have sat at tables where the people didn't even know the couple who were hosting the party. Next door neighbour's friend's cousin's middle school teacher or some such. But they did bring the obligatory hong bao.
Then the big feed. Woof it down and as you say, dabao the leftovers and do a runner. Little to no socialising and definitely no shenanigans. What is the point in having a couple of hundred strangers have dinner at your expense who will just leave when the meal is over?
I have much to learn about cantonese culture.
earthizen:
As in practically everything else, including marriage itself, the keyword is money.
What's the point in having hundreds....mandatory hongbaos....?
Ans: It is another money making opportunity! Feeding those god-knows-who-strangers substandard cuisine, expired meat, fake rice, WW II frozen meat, cooked with gutter oil, you make money, i.e. net profit after deducting the costs of the banquet from the hongbaos you receive.
You know, in Shanghai-nese wedding, some even immediately tear open the hongbao you give at the reception table, count the money, and, yell out the amount at the top of his/her voice, "Mr. & Mrs. @&*(#, XXX !" as you walk the isle to your table. Everyone can hear it loud and clear. Let's see if you dare hand them a thin hongbao, thinking you can make a net profit out of it! Face! The "smartness" of Shanghainese is well known.
Because Mao said Karl Marx told him in a dream that Loyal Mainlander communists should only dance with loudspeakers at full blown volume under the open sky so evil imperialists, colonialists, capitalists in the West, the Japs scoundrels, the Taiwan slaves can ALL hear it.
Where are their husbands and all the other guys? Great Mao had this factored. This is the time for them to pay their er-nias, xiao san a visit! What good is money for? It is dancing all the same, on the bed, floor, exercises only. Evil capitalists don't know how to live a proper life. They don't know how to use money the right way, only communists do! This is authentic Chinese culture!
pretty sure that this is the same wedding that I have been invited to... how many can there be? I promise to dance with you.... even if I have to buy a boom box.
ScotsAlan:
A boom box with "Zorba the Greek". Lets smash some plates :-)
Because Chinese people can't dance. Just look at the clubs here, rare exceptions aside, they are covered with tables and sofas with a tiny tiny dancefloor.
Well there are the ayis, but have you ever seen any young Chinese who knows how to dance?
Joking aside.
The main reason is : Dancing at Da Lu ren's weddings does not make money.
If you don't believe me, take out a thick wade of cash, get the hosts of a wedding party to announce there is a celebration dance party afterwards and whoever attend it (and dance) would be rewarded with a trip to Thailand, Japan, Malaysia.....whatever, the reason being the wedding couple has good guanxi with the tourism dept's head of marketing.
You will witness the breakneck learning speed of mainlanders......
Would the aftermath of throwing a couple of Maos on the dance-floor count as dancing?
