Wedding of the Emperor of China: 1001 cumbersome procedures, if you want to get married, you have to ask someone to help you with this

The grand weddings of ancient Chinese Emperors were held as lavishly as a grand banquet. Besides the lavish dishes and guests in attendance, the royal palace's formalities also surprised posterity.

What is the difference between the grand wedding ceremony and the Chinese emperor's bridal chamber?

According to the regulations in the "Ceremony", the wedding will be conducted according to the steps in the "six ceremonies" including offering gifts (giving engagement gifts), asking for names (asking for names), offering money (paying money), report (choose the day) and finally welcome (welcome the bride). However, unlike ordinary people, the emperor's wedding ceremonies will be conducted much more solemnly and elaborately.

In the first step, the crown ceremony, the king will give the family of the beautiful woman chosen to be a model for the world with extremely generous gifts such as gold bars, fabrics, jade and ivory treasures. According to some historical documents, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Luong Ky's daughter was given 20,000 taels of gold by the Han Heng Emperor Liu Zhi. All other offerings were brought in double the amount compared to the old regulations. after being targeted for the position of queen.

One difference is that in the final ceremony, the welcoming ceremony, the king will not directly come to welcome the bride, but one of the queen's relatives will solemnly come to carry the palanquin. After the bridal procession, the emperor and queen will also spend their wedding night like any other couple. However, the place where the wedding took place was the place where the marriage ceremony took place, not the emperor's bedroom.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the initiation ceremony and also the wedding room of the emperors often took place at the Khon Ninh palace, the third of the "three palaces" and the queen's royal palace during the Ming dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, the flower room was placed in the two eastern rooms of the royal palace while the five western rooms were used as places of worship.

The ceremony to welcome the new queen of the Qing Dynasty took place extremely elaborately and solemnly. According to Royal regulations, the queen's palanquin will be carried from Dai Thanh Mon through Thien An Mon and Ngo Mon to the harem. However, only the queen received this honor while other concubines had to go through the back door of the Forbidden City, Than Vu Mon, to enter the harem.

Of course, it must be much more lavish than that of ordinary people, but the flower room of the Chinese emperors cannot lack the words "two joys", couplets of congratulations and the traditional red color symbolizing luck. Another very important item on the wedding bed is a set of "hundred children" blankets embroidered with images of one hundred lovely children in all positions with the wish of "many children and many blessings". For ordinary people, giving birth to children is 10 times more important, but for the royal family, this is a hundred times more important.

During the Sui Tang Dynasty, the Emperor and Empress's wedding room was not only covered with red carpets everywhere but also equipped with many screens to increase privacy for the wedding night.

Unlike the Tang Dynasty, the wedding rooms of Qing Dynasty emperors were painted entirely in pink. The word joy is also stuck everywhere from the large lantern hanging in front of the door, on both sides of the door to every corner of the room, implying that the Emperor and Empress will always have good luck.

1001 cumbersome procedures before legal compliance

According to historical records, in the Sui Tang Dynasty, after saying all the things that were in their hearts, the emperor and queen would drink wine before officially getting married. However, this cannot be done arbitrarily and must follow dozens of other cumbersome procedures. After both kneel facing the north and say "good ceremony, good ceremony", the Emperor will lead the Emperor into the cave to take off his clothes and then it will be the Queen's turn to take off her clothes and enter. At this time, the wedding room is truly a private space for two people.

During the Qing Dynasty, these traditional rules changed slightly. Accordingly, after the Queen entered the wedding room for a while, the Emperor wearing a dragon robe would be escorted from Can Thanh palace to Khon Ninh palace for the wedding ceremony. After the ceremony of lifting the Queen's veil, the two of them will enjoy the round "prosperity" cake, shaped like dumplings, offered by the maid, implying that they will have many children and grandchildren in the future.

After eating the blessing cake, the King and Queen will join the banquet together, served by female mandarins while a female maid sings the song "Giao Chuc Ca". After drinking wine and eating longevity noodles, the Queen will take off her clothes and lie down to wait for the Emperor when it is a good time to get married.

According to custom, after the wedding day, the Emperor and Empress will stay together in Khon Ninh palace for a full month before returning to their palace. However, during the Qing Dynasty, only King Kangxi followed that principle, and the other kings only stayed with the Queen for a few days.

Even though it is so solemn and elaborate, for the Kings and Queens, the wedding ceremony is largely political, and very few people are happy with the person they truly love. And because they are forced, the wedding night is not always what they want, if not, they have to suffer and accept it.

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