Bridal laments in rural Hong Kong

Abstract

This study examines Chinese women's perceptions of fate by looking into the custom of bridal laments that had been practiced in rural Hong Kong for over three centuries. Traditional Chinese marriage rites are delineated, showing how ritual actors, the bride and her kinsfolk, demonstrate their tacit understanding and acceptance of the cultural ideals embodied in the ritual rules regarding womanly obedience. The bridal lamentation afforded a special ritual space for Chinese women to express themselves publicly. The analysis here shows that the voicing of the suffering of women through the bridal lamentation was a means by which it was possible to introduce a note of discord, shaking the communal consensus on Confucian ideals of womanhood. The last section, on the communicative features of the bridal laments, analyzes the unique language structure of the laments. In doing so, it casts light on the possible link between the fate of the women and their articulation of their life experiences. This section, in itself, serves to distinguish this study from many others in the field of women's studies, which mainly focus on the perceptions of women and their subjective feelings.