【正文】 of luxury parisons of “evil”. B. Historical Development of Western Wedding Custom As early as the16th century, the marriage was often arranged by their parents or guardians, this tradition had continued into the 19th century. Before marriage, the bride and groom were not familiar with each other. They were still very young (three to seven years old), and in this period their parents set for them from matchmaker’s request, and arrange for engagement and wedding issues. Each child lived with their own parents, and occasionally in the Feasts or holidays occasions only to meet one another. At the end of the17th century, this prenatal arranged marriage was under attack. The origin was a judge insisting that the age of seven before the wedding and engagement “pletely null and void”. 2 However, if the two children after seven years old addressed “husband” and “wife” to each other respectively, embraced each other, kissed each other and sent presents and accepted presents, their engagement and wedding was considered valid. Still later, young couples run away just held a secret wedding, so they did not announce the wedding announcement, and did not receive a marriage certificate. Elopement and secret wedding ceremony symbolized the beginning of the arranged marriage of the rebellion of young people. According to Civil Marriage Act adopted by the Puritan under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell in 1653, both men and women getting married must hold in a secular ceremony, and had the presence of a magistrate before marriage but also to show the certificate announced in the parish diary Notice about the statement of In addition, if one of them was under the age of 21, they must also produce evidence of this pile of marriage of parental consent. The wedding ceremony was simple and as long as both men and women repeated several times, throughout the course of the ceremony the groom and the bride must pull together by hands. At that time, rings were still prohibited. 1753’ s “Hardwicke Act”(Hardwicke Act) required the wedding of all the people (except the members of the royal family) only under the announcement of the wedding announcement or obtaining a marriage certificate of marriage can only be held at the time 8:00 to 12: sites can only be the Anglican Church or the chapel, and the couple must oath facing the Church of England priest. There, Wedding must be more than two witnesses, and record must be kept in the whole process. In addition, if they did not declare marriage announcement, they must get parental The Roman Catholic Church was adhering to the “Conference on Trent”(Council of Trent) to reiterate the marriage is to one of the seven sacraments of man, once the marriage form, it would not be Until the early 90s of 20th century, it was difficult for the people of Great Britain to marry. If someone wanted to get married in England or Wales, the marriage must be held in church, which had notebook (similar to the license marriage certificate), and the wedding party must only in the area (county area), where one of their family lived in. Obviously, only all parishes in the Church of England (Anglican), were automatically registered, regardless of the size. This is reality, without consulting any person. Ⅲ. Differences of Chinese and Western Wedding Customs China and the west attach importance to the wedding customs, but the importance differ from so many aspects, such as the purpose, the marriage media, the wedding dress, the wedding procedure and so on. A. Different Purpose of Marriage The main purpose of getting marriage in China is to continue the male offspring. The socalled “there are three forms of filial impiety, of which the most serious is to have no heir” reflects the importance to s erve ancestors. And the filial piety is traditional virtues. In western countries, they are influenced deeply by religion, especially the Christianity. They think that it is the God who has created marriage. There are three purposes of the marriage. First, the couple is lifelong panion with each other。 they serve God together. Then get married, start career and produce an heir to carry on the pious descendants. The final purpose is to carry on the pious descendants to serve to God. So they do not stress the blood relationship. They can remedy the defect of nonchild by adopting other children. B. Different Marriage Media 1. Chinese Marriage Media: Matchmaker Matchmaker has many functions in China. Almost in every process in marriage in old times, the matchmaker would attend. First, it was the matchmaker that introduced a man to a woman or a woman to a man, most the former. If matchmaker did not introduce them to each other, they would not know about each other for ever. If some accident event happened, that is they knew each other not through the matchmaker, they would be called “mitting adultery with each other “or “a thief if a man and a whore if a woman”. 6 Second, the other procedures after introduction in marriage were also done by the matchmaker. There were three conditions in marriage in old China that were the matchmaker’s proposals, six gifts and meet, people kept honoring the ancestors as the center in these three conditions. The regulation of listening to matchmaker’s proposals was the rule tha t people must abide by. The reason was not only the function the matchmaker had in society, but also the meaning that the matchmaker had in later generation reproduction. 2. Western Marriage Media: Priest In Christian’s opinions, wedding ceremony is consid ered as an important way to get god’s save and wedding ceremony is a very important part of marriage. Priest plays an essential role in it. And marriage is not valid, unless the ceremony is hosted by priest. There are three conditions in marriage too. First, there should be