Sealed with ring at Chinese weddings

　 A wedding ring is not a Chinese tradition but like so many other Western customs it is becoming de rigueur at Chinese weddings.(Source: China Daily)
　
　

BEIJING, Feb. 11 -- A wedding ring is not a Chinese tradition but like so many other Western customs it is becoming de rigueur at Chinese weddings.

　
　

For newlyweds Li Jingping and Wang Guan, both 28, this Spring Festival is going to be a busy one. According to Chinese tradition, newlyweds should visit all their relatives during the first Spring Festival after their wedding, to establish bonds with the extended family and receive their blessings.

　
　

But the Beijing couple aren"t complaining.

　
　

"Compared to the wedding preparations, it is actually no trouble at all," says Li, the bride, sporting a big smile.

　
　

"We just have to show up with a few of our wedding photos for our relatives. And of course, we will show them our wedding rings," Li continues, flashing a sparkling diamond on her left hand.

　
　

For Li, that"s going to be the best part of the family visits. She and her husband have spent months picking the ring and spent nearly 10,000 yuan ($1,466), or almost twice Wang"s monthly salary as a website editor, on it.

　
　

"I won"t wear the diamond ring everyday because it is very expensive," Li says. "But Spring Festival is just the kind of occasion when I can wear it. Also, it happens to be Valentine"s Day."

　
　

Wearing a wedding ring is not a Chinese tradition, but like other Western customs, it too has become popular with youngsters such as Li and Wang.

　
　

Part of a generation that has grown up watching Hollywood movies and celebrating Christmas and Valentine"s Day, they have embraced the wedding-ring culture just as they celebrate Western festivals, without really understanding the meaning behind it.

　
　

At a traditional Chinese wedding, the couple will take three bows, the first to the God of Heaven and God of Earth for bringing them together; the second to their parents for raising them; and the third to each other to show mutual respect.

　
　

"I love all these Chinese traditions and we followed them all at our wedding," Li says. "But I also like the exchange of wedding rings of a Western wedding. I find the bit where the groom puts a diamond ring on the bride"s finger, very touching. So when it came to my wedding, I cried when we exchanged wedding rings."

　
　

However, no matter how much time and money couples spend on their wedding rings, these go under lock and key after the day of the wedding ceremony, resurfacing only on special occasions such as wedding anniversaries.

　
　

"I know the wedding ring is supposed to be a daily reminder of the vow a couple have made to one another," Li says. "But it is, after all, the wedding ring. I would not like to damage it, or worse, lose it. That would signal bad luck."

　
　

Also, it is not common for Chinese men to wear rings, although the wedding ring is supposed to indicate his marital status.

　
　

"Men don"t care too much about the ring. It is just a symbol of their vow to their wives," Wang says.

　
　

The country"s rapid economic development and opening up to Western culture over the past three decades has resulted in an increasing demand for jewelry, especially wedding diamonds.

　
　

Despite the global economic downturn, China last year was the world"s second largest diamond market, ahead of Japan and behind the United States, with trade on the Shanghai diamond exchange rising 16.4 percent to more than $1.5 billion, according to a recent report by Xinhua.

　
　

The country also became the world"s largest gold consumer last year.

　
　

The increasing demand comes not only from newlyweds, but also from the country"s increasingly wealthy middle class that includes the older generation who would like to pamper themselves with a bit of luxury to compensate for their simple weddings decades ago.

　
　

"Young or old, people buy a ring to commemorate their marriage or simply as a gift for each other," says Li Yan, the owner of a popular wedding ring store in Beijing. "It has become a symbol of a couple"s love."

　
　

Ma Guojin, 61 and Wang Hualing, 62, got married in 1972.

　
　

Their wedding featured no wedding gowns, limousines, flowers or wedding rings. "We wore the same uniforms, a simple haircut and went to the restaurant on bicycles," Ma, a retired government official, says. "The gifts we got were a Chairman Mao Zedong"s badge, a statue of Mao and copies of Quotations from Chairman Mao."

　
　

However, for the past 30 years, Wang has been giving his wife a bunch of flowers every year on her birthday.

　
　

Eleven years ago, for Ma"s 50th birthday, he added a ring and a necklace as gifts.

　
　

"The ring, like today"s young people put it, is a circle that ties two people together," Ma says. "But for me, it is a reminder of my husband"s love just like the flowers he keeps buying me for my birthday."

　
　

Wang nods in agreement.

　
　

"I don"t think a precious ring will guarantee a happy marriage. We got married without the ring, but we are as happy as today"s young couples, even happier," he says.

　
　

"But since we Chinese people are richer and a diamond ring is no longer a luxury, I thought she deserved to have one and I bought her one."
　

　

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