Engagement, also known as marriage contract, according to Chinese folk customs, usually precedes marriage with engagement ceremonies: making a marriage book, exchanging gifts, or setting up a matchmaker, etc. However, according to the current laws of our country, engagement is not a necessary procedure before marriage, and a marriage without engagement does not lose the validity of its marriage.

The function of the betrothal is to determine the marriage relationship of the parties in a ceremonial manner, and to obtain social recognition and supervision through this. Once a man and a woman are officially engaged, both men and women have a certain moral responsibility for the relationship, and the termination of the marriage contract is no longer a casual thing.

In the event of a change of marriage, it must be negotiated between the parties or mediated by an outsider. If negotiation and mediation fail, the annulment of the marriage contract is generally necessary to make a public announcement on a certain occasion or publish a statement in the newspaper, otherwise it will be regarded as an immoral act. In the event of an economic dispute over the bride price, if the mediation fails through negotiation, the court may "file a lawsuit".

There are also some small rituals in the city's engagement ceremony. Due to the high level of voluntary marriage, in order to prevent their parents from seeing their betrothed partner before they announce their engagement plans, they arrange a meeting with their parents when they feel that their relationship will eventually lead to marriage.

If, due to geographical ties, parents do not have the opportunity to see their fiancé or fiancée, they will mention their special relationship to their family by phone, letter, or email before informing them of the engagement.

The future groom and the future wife's parents explain his life plan and the arrangements for building a family, this conversation is always an important proof of the groom's respect for the bride's parents, a courtesy that cannot be ignored, which is quite Western proposal.

Betrothal is a type of social ritual. There is an engagement ceremony to inform the public that the couple has a place in their hearts and is ready to enter the stage of marriage. The traditional engagement ceremony in East Asia is called "Na Cai", "Na Zheng", and "Na Zheng". In modern times, it is much simplified to keep only the levy.

Marriage contract between a man and a woman: A pre-marriage agreement between a man and a woman.

In the past, the marriages of young Han people were mostly arranged by their parents, most of whom were engaged by their parents since childhood, and some even referred to marriage, that is, before the children were born, the parents of both parties established a marriage relationship for them.

Non-marriage with the same surname: that is, men and women with the same surname do not marry each other, which began in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. It is a rule left over from the implementation of extra-clan marriage by the Zhou people. In the Spring and Autumn Period, it was further understood that marriage with the same surname would cause deformities and infertility in offspring, but marriage with the same surname still occurred from time to time among the nobility.

After the Warring States period. After the Han Dynasty, there was no distinction between surnames, so there were many reasons why the same surname was not married. to the Tang Dynasty. For marriage with the same surname, the ancient system is followed. It is prohibited. Song and Yuan Dynasty were Tang law, and the same surname was a marriage cane and divorced.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the region was larger and the population was large, and it had long become a region-based society, replacing the original blood-based clans. Therefore, the "Ming Laws" and the "Qing Laws" are equally divided into two with the same surname and the same ancestry, and the middle surface stipulates that intermarriage is prohibited for both, and in fact, marriages can be obtained with the same surname but different clans. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the law combined the unmarried with the same surname and the unmarried relatives. Only marriages of the same clan are prohibited.

Before getting engaged, ask a matchmaker to go to the woman's house to propose. At the time of engagement, the man gives the woman some possessions as an "engagement". When getting married, the woman also has to bring a lot of property to the man's family, which is called "dowry".

In modern society, engagement is legally a contractual act, a kind of identity contract. This identity contract has several characteristics:

1. The conclusion of a marriage contract shall not be an agency, otherwise it shall not have legal effect, that is, the marriage contract must be agreed upon by both men and women before it can be established.

2. Only those who have the legal ability to engage in engagement can engage in engagement. The legal definition of betrothal capacity is based on age: a man is 17 years old and a woman is 15 years old. If a marriage contract is entered into in violation of this provision, the marriage contract is not invalid, but the parties or their legal representatives may apply to the court for annulment.

This is because minors under the age of 20 must have the consent of their legal representatives for their marriage.

3. The marriage contract shall not be enforced. The marriage contract should be observed, but it should also be in accordance with the wishes of both the parties. If one of the parties is unable to perform, it cannot be enforced.

Although engagement is not as complicated as marriage, traditional customs still attach great importance to both men and women need to prepare a number of gifts, and the process is as follows:

The groom first performs the family sacrifice at home, and then rides with the matchmaker to the woman's house to marry. Get out of the car and enter the door, the red envelope can't run away!

Tribute Officer: Commonly known as "Mr. Box", he is responsible for gift-giving and employment. The tribute officer had to control the number of people (made up of even numbers), vehicles (six or twelve), bride money (even numbers and properly wrapped in red paper), and six gifts.

Family sacrifice: Before setting off to the woman's house, the man will first perform the ancestor worship ceremony at home, and then the "box cake" or flatbread used in the collection will be incense to the ancestors and ancestors, and will go to a virgin woman's house to be hired, and ask the ancestors to bless this marriage rafters with happiness.

Departure: After the family sacrifice, the tribute official is responsible for carrying all the dowry on the car, and the groom and the matchmaker ride together to the woman's house.

Red envelopes: Before departure, in addition to taking care of the number of people, cars, and dowry, the tribute officer must also remind the groom to prepare more red envelopes. For example, the uncle who came to open the groom's car door, the "pressing table", and the six relatives who went with them all need to prepare a bridal meeting gift, a new friend of the woman holding a washing water, and a matchmaker gift.

How to hire after a lifetime: the so-called "eat rice fragrant and marry a good son-in-law", so there should be rice fragrant cakes in the six ceremonies.

The meaning of preparing four-color sugar: four-color sugar is a symbol of the sweetness of the newlyweds, and the meaning of white-headed to old.

The dowry not only represents the man's repayment to the woman's parents, thanks to the woman's family for their hard work in raising the bride who is about to pass the door, but also represents the man's face. Therefore, most of them are willing to add scenery and dignity, and each dowry also contains the symbolic meaning of seeking good fortune and increasing perfection.

The dowry is usually divided into a simple six gifts or a special twelve gifts, the amount of the dowry is arranged according to the personal budget, and at the same time, you may wish to ask the matchmaker to ask the woman's parents for advice, ask the woman's opinion, and make a pomp and circumstance that has the best of both worlds.

Male and female marriages officially debuted

The sound of firecrackers sounded, and the man who was married arrived! On the same day, the ancestors were worshipped and tea was served, and the ceremony was not completed until the ring that held hands to the white head was put on.

After the big gift, how the woman returns the gift

Chinese have always paid attention to "courtesy exchanges", after the man has passed the big gift, the woman naturally has to prepare a gift in return, but the man can not be allowed to return empty-handed.

The agenda of engagement: China has advocated etiquette since ancient times, and the traditional wedding customs are based on the weekly etiquette, including six ceremonies, such as Nacai, asking for names, Naji, Nazheng, inviting dates, and greeting in person.

Na Cai: In ancient times, the lord of the marriage ceremony, when the woman was pre-selected, the goose was used as a meeting gift, so that the matchmaker greeted the female father, which is now called "proposing".

Asking for the name: The man asks the woman's name and date of birth, which is now known as "Eight Characters"

Najib: If the name is an auspicious omen, the matchmaker will give a courtesy, which is now called "Xiaoding".

Recruitment: This ritual festival is mainly to give deposits, cakes and a variety of ornaments and sacrifices, as a formal gift for the appointment. Today, it is called "Dading".

Invitation period: Commonly known as "sending the sun", it is also called "begging day" when the man asks the day selector to choose an auspicious day, and asks the matchmaker to ask the woman's opinion.

Welcome: The wedding date is determined, the groom takes the ink car, and the greeting team firecrackers and gongs and drums all the way to the sky, full of joy to go to the woman's house to welcome the bride, and visit the church to complete the marriage.

From the above, it can be seen that the first five ceremonies in the "Six Rites" all belong to the category of engagement. This wedding process has lasted for more than 2,000 years in China.

With the progress of the times and the emancipation of people's minds, free love has replaced the arrangement of parents, and the engagement ceremony has become dispensable and is no longer an indispensable part of marriage. Today's engagement ceremony might be more appropriately called "a formal meeting of the parents."

Zhao Chaogang wanted to handle his engagement ceremony as if it was in ancient times, so that he valued Pingping and Jingjing very much, so that Pingping and Jingjing's relatives were more satisfied with him, and for Pingping and Jingjing, it was also a rare memory.

For women, the most important engagement and wedding ceremony in their lives is definitely the most important part of their memories, so for their wives, Zhao Chaogang didn't want to wronged them, and Zhao Chaogang gave them the most memorable engagement ceremony.

However, after all, society has made a lot of progress, so Zhao Chaogang still gave up some inappropriate things at the engagement ceremony, otherwise this engagement ceremony would not be decent, in that case, it would not be beautiful.

For Zhao Chaogang to wantonly organize the engagement ceremony of himself and Pingping and Jingjing, Li Bin and his wife, as well as Liu Mingxin and his wife, are very satisfied, because the more grand the engagement ceremony organized by Zhao Chaogang, it means that he/their daughter is more important in Zhao Chaogang's heart, in this way, they are parents, and they can rest assured.

However, because Zhao Chaogang and Li Liping at the same time, Liu Jingjing's engagement is too sensational, if it really spreads, with Liu Jingjing's current identity, not only Zhao Chaogang will have a headache at that time, but even Liu Mingxin's family and Li Bin's family will have a headache, so this time at the engagement ceremony in Zhao Chaogang's hometown, Liu Mingxin and other relatives of Li Bin's family did not attend, only Li Bin and Liu Mingxin and his wife.

Although in this case, Pingping and Jingjing's relatives seem to be a little less, but there is no way to do it.

What's more, Zhao Chaogang will return to Anxi City at that time and hold an engagement ceremony with Pingping and Jingjing respectively, at that time, all the relatives of Pingping and Jingjing can be present, so there is an explanation.

Of course, Zhao Chaogang has discussed these things with his parents, and Zhao Qiang and his wife do not object to Zhao Chaogang doing this, since Pingping and Jingjing are with their sons, these things are what they deserve. (To be continued......)

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