Traditional Chinese wedding exhibition

Traditional Chinese wedding exhibition at National Library

The National Library at Victoria Street is holding a Traditional Chinese wedding exhibition from now to April 6, to help the public understand the meaning behind traditional rituals, from marriage proposals and dowry preparation to tea ceremonies.

The exhibition's centrepiece is a 92-year-old authentic wedding sedan flown in specially from Fujian, China.

But how relevant is this exhibition for modern Singapore?

Gallery owner and curator Sean Lui said: "Fortunately, we have been seeing increasing demands (for a Chinese wedding ceremony) in the last few years.

"More and more couples are willing to go through a Chinese wedding ceremony, but are not able to find reliable sources of information to learn (about the rituals)".

Mr Lui said he sees about 20 to 30 prospective couples a month who wish to organise a traditional ceremony.

Young brides- and grooms-to-be are not the only ones who are interested.

Many older couples are also renewing their wedding vows the traditional way.

Mr Lui said there have been about 50 couples who said they wanted to be involved in the Chinese wedding exhibition. He added that most of them wanted to take photographs in traditional Chinese costumes for keepsakes.

-News courtesy of Channel Newsasia-