Last weekend my wife and I attended another Chinese wedding of a co-worker who was getting married to a local fireman.  It was a beautiful wedding held in a hotel banquet hall and we were happy to attend.  Everything progressed in the same manner as most every modern Chinese wedding we have seen, except for one thing: the vows.

We should get paid, that’s what I think. This being our 6th wedding of the month we’re beginning to see patterns in the way a Chinese wedding is run and one of them always has to do with a foreigner performing on stage. Sometimes, like today, against our will we become the main entertainment of the wedding, forcing me to ask why the host is getting paid while we are handed a big plate of humiliation.

Towards the end of the “ceremony” a set of four or five fireworks set up around the stage were set off to the sound of blissful wedding music and the happy couple hugging. It was a dramatic scene, for sure, but I won’t lie -I was looking for the nearest exit.

My dad once told me that in order to fully understand a culture you need to attend a wedding, a funeral, and a baby shower. Unfortunately our Chinese friends never got that memo, so instead of a well-balanced cultural immersion, we’ve been invited to five (yes, count them…FIVE) weddings this month.

The Chinese wedding! How we wish all of you could experience this kind of wedding – ha! First we would like to say that most everything about a Chinese wedding is completely opposite that of America.