【正文】 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。 second, correct means to go to church especially correct reading prayer book。 autumn was the season of harvest. After the labor for a year, people had enough money to hold the marriage. Nowadays, it is also an important event. People pay many attentions to it. Sixth, the groom meets the bride. Marriage is finally held after the five procedures. In the past, the bridegroom wore wedding suit, riding on a horse, and guided to marry the bride on the day. And the bride wore a red cheongsam waiting for the bridegroom. Now, the bridegroom wares western suit, and the bride wares wedding dress and usually in a car. 2. The Preparations before Marriage Agreement in Western Countries In the middle ages children were married at a young age. Girls were as young as 12 when they got married, and boys as young as 14. The arrangement of the marriage was based on moary worth. The family of the girl who was to be married gave a dowry, or donation, to the boy she was to marry. The dowry went with her when the marriage was held and stayed with the boy forever after the marriage. After the marriage was arranged, a wedding notice was posted on the door of the church. The notice was put up to ensure that there were no grounds for prohibiting the marriage. The notice stated who was to be married, and if anyone knew any reasons that the two could not marry, they were to e forward with the reason. If the reason was a valid one the wedding would be prohibited. There were many reasons for prohibiting a marriage. One reason was consanguinity, if the two were too closely related. If the boy or the girl had taken a monastic or religious vow, the marriage was also prohibited. Sometimes widows or widowers took vows of celibacy on the death of their spouse, and later regretted doing so when they could not remarry. Other reasons which also prohibited marri