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Honggaitou
A Chinese bride wearing honggaitou to cover her face and a red wedding cheongsam.
Chinese name
Chinese	紅蓋頭
Literal meaning	Red cover head
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hónggàitou
English name
English	Red veil

A honggaitou (Chinese: 紅蓋頭; pinyin: hónggàitou), also shortened to gaitou (Chinese: 蓋頭; pinyin: gàitou; lit. 'head cover') and referred to as red veil in English, is a traditional red-coloured bridal veil worn by the Han Chinese brides to cover their faces on their wedding ceremony before their wedding night. The honggaitou is worn along with a red wedding dress. Veils have been used in China since the Han dynasty. The custom of wearing the honggaitou for wedding ceremonies can be traced back to the Song dynasty period. The custom of wearing the honggaitou, along with the traditional red wedding dress, continues to be practiced in modern-day China. However, under the influence of Western culture and globalization, most Chinese brides nowadays wear white wedding dresses and a white veil, an imitation of Western Christian weddings, instead of the red wedding dresses and honggaitou.

Cultural significance and symbolism

In Chinese culture, the colour red (Chinese: 紅; pinyin: hóng) symbolizes good luck, happiness, joy, and celebration. The colour white, which is used in Western Christian weddings, symbolizes death in Chinese culture rather than holiness and purity. The colour white used to be avoided in Chinese weddings in the past.

Cultural practice

According to tradition, the groom would fetch his bride at her home in a palanquin on the morning of their wedding day. Before the arrival of the groom, the bride would place the honggaitou over her head to cover her face. When they arrived at the groom's home, they would perform the wedding ceremonies and rituals (including the Heaven and Earth worship, etc.). When the bride was brought to the wedding room, but just before entering the room, the groom would use a stick to remove her honggaitou and throw it on the roof while never looking at her face. It was only after the bride entered the room and returned for the shangbai that the groom and the wedding guests would see her face for the first time.

History

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During the Song dynasty, Chinese women from the middle and upper classes wore the honggaitou at their wedding ceremonies.

Construction and design

The honggaitou is a square of red fabric.

See also

• Cheongsam
• Fengguan – Phoenix coronet
• Hanfu
• Hanfu headgear
• Mili (veil)
• Qungua
• Veil

Notes

1. The use of the honggaitou is not compulsory in traditional Chinese wedding as many other headwear were also used, such as the fengguan.
2. Shangbai means "paying respects to the senior generation". It is a ritual wherein the bride will be introduced to the groom's senior relatives.

References

1. ^ Cohen, Myron L. (1998). "North China Rural Families. Changes during the Communist Era". Études chinoises. 17 (1): 59–154. doi:10.3406/etchi.1998.1267. ISSN 0755-5857.
2. ^ Lu, Jie (2013). China's Literary and Cultural Scenes at the Turn of the 21st Century. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-96974-7. OCLC 870591843.
3. ^ Perkins, Dorothy (2013). Encyclopedia of China : History and Culture. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-1-135-93562-7. OCLC 869091722.
4. ^ Zhu, Ruixi; 朱瑞熙 (2016). Bangwei Zhang; Fusheng Liu; Chongbang Cai; Zengyu Wang; Peter Ditmanson; Bang Qian Zhu (eds.). A social history of middle-period China: the Song, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties (Updated ed.). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-16786-5. OCLC 953576345.
5. ^ Cao, Nanlai (2011). Constructing China's Jerusalem : Christians, power, and place in contemporary Wenzhou. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-7642-4. OCLC 714569448.
6. ^ Long, Yi (2019). "Cultural Differences between Chinese and American Weddings". Proceedings of the 2018 International Workshop on Education Reform and Social Sciences (ERSS 2018). Vol. 300. Atlantis Press. pp. 634–640. doi:10.2991/erss-18.2019.126. ISBN 978-94-6252-664-8. S2CID 166851183.

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