When people ask me why the Chinese diaspora seemed to be able to retain their culture despite centuries away from the mainland, I explain that our culture is literally hard coded into our language, mindsets and values. This illustration of how a wedding invitation reflects various Chinese beliefs is such a great illustration!
I know right! i also didn't know until i was like wait.. what do all these words mean... then started digging into the meaning of it. You bring up a really interesting point. I wonder what other examples of value-loaded language we have in Chinese... do you have any examples in mind?
Thanks for breaking this down! I now wonder what happened with my own wedding, haha. My husband and I sent out the English invites. I wonder what my in laws' friends got...
nah, you did a great job clearly describing it - i can’t speak/write/read Chinese very well, and my knowledge on traditions is quite lacking so I really appreciate your attention to detail! Makes me feel connected to my roots 😌
Love this breakdown of the wedding invite. In Indonesia, all the invites have both parties' parents and I never thought twice of it until I read this piece. Won't look at wedding invites the same way again :)
right! neither did i realise until my fam specifically requested for it, haha. i'm guessing indo/malaysian/singaporean cultures probably have a lot in common. thanks for all the love you've shown this piece Becky!! ^^
I loved the anatomy of a Hong Kong wedding invite. I didn't realize it carried so much tradition (and information in it!)
I especially loved this: "Why has this archaic document prevailed here? I suppose this little cultural niche of Hong Kong’s was undisturbed by our former British colonisers or the political and cultural upheavals of 20th century Mainland China. Hence, thanks to innumerable generations of didactic parents, the exact words of this ancient text have survived to this day. "
Beautiful example of how a culture is preserved, and beautifully written. Thank you as well for the mention!
When people ask me why the Chinese diaspora seemed to be able to retain their culture despite centuries away from the mainland, I explain that our culture is literally hard coded into our language, mindsets and values. This illustration of how a wedding invitation reflects various Chinese beliefs is such a great illustration!
Thanks for reading Elizabeth!
I know right! i also didn't know until i was like wait.. what do all these words mean... then started digging into the meaning of it. You bring up a really interesting point. I wonder what other examples of value-loaded language we have in Chinese... do you have any examples in mind?
Thanks for breaking this down! I now wonder what happened with my own wedding, haha. My husband and I sent out the English invites. I wonder what my in laws' friends got...
Very cool post!
hahahah i wonder! thanks for dropping by and reading Crystal 😊
that was such a cool breakdown, especially the part with the grandparent characters!
thanks for reading Caroline! I hope it wasn’t too difficult to follow… (was a bit worried about the grandparents bit)
nah, you did a great job clearly describing it - i can’t speak/write/read Chinese very well, and my knowledge on traditions is quite lacking so I really appreciate your attention to detail! Makes me feel connected to my roots 😌
Ah, this is fascinating. I almost regret having sidestepped these traditions by being very ABC and also having a lowkey wedding.
hahah lowkey is cool too! saves a lot of money ;P
thanks for stopping by and reading Leon!
Love this breakdown of the wedding invite. In Indonesia, all the invites have both parties' parents and I never thought twice of it until I read this piece. Won't look at wedding invites the same way again :)
right! neither did i realise until my fam specifically requested for it, haha. i'm guessing indo/malaysian/singaporean cultures probably have a lot in common. thanks for all the love you've shown this piece Becky!! ^^
I loved the anatomy of a Hong Kong wedding invite. I didn't realize it carried so much tradition (and information in it!)
I especially loved this: "Why has this archaic document prevailed here? I suppose this little cultural niche of Hong Kong’s was undisturbed by our former British colonisers or the political and cultural upheavals of 20th century Mainland China. Hence, thanks to innumerable generations of didactic parents, the exact words of this ancient text have survived to this day. "
Beautiful example of how a culture is preserved, and beautifully written. Thank you as well for the mention!
thanks for the reading and commenting yina ^^
ooooh i'm so glad you mentioned it! actually that was my most edited/thought about paragraph hehe, i'm glad all the editing and rewording paid off.
and yesss always down to share some love on such a meaningful project :)