1. The chinese wedding story June 8th - 9th 2006

2. The day before: tea ceremony at the bride‘s home The bride‘s parents invited the wedding society for having tea and snacks – actually everybody took one cup of tea and the changed to something more alkoholic…that‘s why the left picture isn‘t sharp anymore!

3. The wedding day – getting prepared At 8 a.m. the wedding society is splitted in two: relatives and friends of the bride were separated from the future husband‘s people. Both groups are preparing themselves for the rendez-vous. By the way: here is the bride‘s mother

4. Getting Started At 9 a.m. the showdown has begun: the husband arrives in a convoy of limousines, while the house of the bride is locked. The friends and relatives don‘t give the bride away easily! Some guys warn them with fire crackers…

5. Opening doors: friendly words, a good memory and money To reach the bride, the husband has to get through three doors. Behind every doors the bride‘s people wait and have to ensure the noble mean of that man in many ways... …They ask him a lot of questions about him and the future he plans for the wife and himself..and if nothing helps maybe a bundle notes of Yuan will do! …but he should avoid to start singing!

6. Finally…... he reaches her chamber but she‘s not alone!…the room is filled with bloody paparrazzi!! Here he has to find her red shoes before she can be taken away.

7. …mmh.. i guess,you should also see the bride Ok…there was time for a fast kiss - I should have mentioned that…

8. ..down it goes …after grabbing the bride the man is a bit in a hurry because according to chinese superstition the ceremony has to be done before 12 o‘clock

9. ..the wedding ceremony Actually the real wedding ceremony is a quite short affair: Normally it takes place in a hotel...so I will jump over that part when we were following the convoy in a bus… Here there is some kind of moderator talking sth. I don‘t understand. I think important was that they have to make a bow in front of her parents and in front of each other as a symbol of respect.

10. …and that‘s all! Believe it or not. But after this not much spectacular make- a-bow-thing the main part is over…some Germans didn‘t check that nobody is interested to hear some of their traditional wedding Liedgut! Now everybody congratulates and gives money in red envelopes and the couple has to drink a terrible kind of schnapps if the guests demand it.

11. The wedding lunch… …is worth to mention. Because the new couple needs luck, harmony and fullfillment, the food is prepared in a special manner: e.g. as u can see the chicken comes completely…feet, head, beak - because they shouldn‘t miss anything in their future life.

12. 1.30 p.m. and the party‘s over Lunch is over and most of the guests are gone…a bit wired but that‘s the way it is! Some crazy hardcore party people started drinking because they thought they hadn‘t have enough fun up to this point...and they really ended up badly!! (Wasn‘t my fault…THEY were starting playing these dopey drinking games! And see – the new husband is with us! )