Wedding Custom: 'Ninghai Ten-mile Red Dowry'

Ten-mile Red Dowry – Wedding Customs of Ninghai[Photo/nbwh.gov.cn]

Ten-mile Red Dowry – Wedding Customs of Ninghai[Photo/nbwh.gov.cn]

 Ten-mile Red Dowry – Wedding Customs of Ninghai[Photo/nbwh.gov.cn]

Influenced by the thriving local economy of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644) and traditional Chinese wedding customs, people in east Zhejiang province generally married off their daughters with a luxurious dowry, the daughters of rich households having extremely extravagant dowries.

The bride’s parents would marry off their daughters with a large dowry to show off the wealth of their family, expecting their daughter to have a high status in her husband’s home. Therefore, they would spend a great fortune to marry off a daughter. The dowry procession could last several miles, which is exaggerated with the name “Ten-mile Red Dowry”. 

The term was later specially referred to as marriage, becoming the symbol of a legal marriage. And it was also a folk event for cultural exchanges between villages.

The national intangible cultural heritage project, Ninghai Ten-mile Red Dowry wedding custom, is representative of the old custom.