Abstract

With the deepening of globalization, different cultures are faced with conflict and integration. Under such circumstance, wedding custom, as an important branch of social culture, is changing constantly. In China, some traditional wedding customs have gradually been abandoned while some western wedding customs are getting more and more popular. This phenomenon arouses the interests of some domestic and overseas scholars. It is necessary to study the differences of wedding customs between eastern and western countries. By means of analyzing these differences, people can get an overall knowledge of wedding customs, and take a reasonable and objective attitude towards cultural conflict and integration. This paper makes a comparison between the process, namely pre-wedding, while-wedding, and post-wedding, of Chinese wedding and that of western wedding. By comparison, the differences of the two wedding customs are shown in a different way. This article will discuss the reasons for these differences from the perspective of historical and cultural background, the perspective of collectivism and individualism, and the perspective of love and marriage concepts. By doing so, this paper tries to offer some insightful views on the issue of cultural conflict and integration.

Key words: weeding customs; cultural differences; cultural integration; main reasons

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. The Process of Wedding-2

2.1 Pre-wedding-2

2.2While-wedding-4

2.3 Post-wedding-6

3. Reasons for the Phenomena-8

3.1 The influence of historical and cultural background-8

3.2 The influence of collectivism and individualism-9

3.3 The influence of different love and marriage concepts-10

4. Conclusion-10

Works Cited-12