Crying Marriage

(Zuo Tang)

A Cultural Practice on Sichuan, China

The custom of crying marriage existed a long time ago in many areas of Southwest
China's Sichuan Province, and remained in vogue until the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-
1911). Though not so popular as before, the custom is still observed by people in many places,
especially Tujia people, who view it as a necessary marriage procedure.
According to elderly people, every bride had to cry at the wedding . Otherwise, the
bride's neighbors would look down upon her as a poorly cultivated girl and she would become
the laughingstock of the village. In fact, there were cases in which the bride was beaten by her
mother for not crying at the wedding ceremony.
During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), as historical records reveal, the
princess of the Zhao State was married to the Yan State to be a queen. Her mother, on the
point of her daughter's departure, cried at her feet and asked her to return home as soon as
possible. Later, the story was alluded to as the origin of the "crying marriage" custom.
In west Sichuan Province, the custom is called "Zuo Tang (Sitting in the Hall)". Usually,
the bride begins to cry a month before the wedding day. As the night falls, the bride walks
inside the hall and weeps for about an hour. Ten days later, her mother joins her, crying
together with her. Another ten days later, the grandmother joins the daughter and mother, to
cry together with them. The sisters and aunts of the bride, if she has any, also have to join the
crying.

The bride may cry in different ways with diversified words, which was also called "Crying
Marriage Song"; the somewhat exaggerated singing helps to enhance the wedding atmosphere.
In a word, crying at wedding is a way by custom to set off the happiness of the wedding via
falsely sorrowful words. However, in the arranged marriages of the old days of China, there
were indeed quite a lot of brides who cried over their unsatisfactory marriage and even their
miserable life.