Introduction: The Origins of Ritual and the Evolution of Procedure
The Six Rites of marriage constitute the core procedure of traditional Chinese wedding ceremonies. Their names first appear in the "Shi Hun Li" chapter of the Yili (Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial), and they comprise six stages: nacai (sending the betrothal gift), wenming (inquiring the name), naji (divining auspiciousness), nazheng (presenting the formal betrothal gift), qingqi (requesting the wedding date), and qinying (personally fetching the bride). This set of procedures is at once a rigorous code of ritual propriety and a microcosm of ancient social structure, family ethics, and economic relations. Drawing on transmitted ritual texts and excavated documents, this article traces the trajectory of the Six Rites from the shi (gentleman-official) class of the pre-Qin period to later popular society, analyzes the functions and symbolism of betrothal gifts within the ritual system, and explores their contemporary survivals and transformations, aiming to present a dynamic rather than static ritual tradition.
1. The Textual Origins of the Six Rites and Their Practice Among the Shi Class
The complete record of the Six Rites first appears in The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, "The Wedding Rites of a Shi" (Shi Hun Li), the earliest extant Confucian classic to systematically describe the procedures of marriage. This chapter sets out in detail the six steps by which a man of the shi class took a wife: nacai (sending the betrothal gift), wenming (asking the name), naji (announcing the auspicious divination), nazheng (presenting the formal betrothal gifts), qingqi (requesting the date), and qinying (the personal welcome). According to the original text of The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, at the nacai stage, "in the wedding rites, the proposal is sent down to begin the nacai, using a wild goose"—that is, the man's family first dispatched a matchmaker to express the wish to form a union, with a wild goose as the ceremonial gift. Wenming was "the guest holds the wild goose and asks the name," inquiring after the woman's name and date of birth for the subsequent divination. Naji was "returning to divine in the ancestral temple; obtaining an auspicious omen, again sending an envoy to inform them." Nazheng consisted of "dark and light silk in bundles of five bolts, and a pair of deer skins." Qingqi was "requesting the date, saying: I venture not to fail to announce the date." Qinying records in full the bridegroom's attire—"the cap of rank, a crimson lower garment, a black hem"—and his ceremonial procession of "riding a black chariot, with two following carriages, holding torches before the horses." This entire sequence is analyzed in fine detail in The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, with each step having its fixed formulas of speech and ritual objects.
The "Meaning of the Wedding" chapter of The Book of Rites expounds the significance of the wedding ceremony from the standpoint of moral principle, stating: "The wedding rite is to unite the good relations of two surnames, above to serve the ancestral temple, and below to continue the line of descendants," elevating marriage to the level of family continuity and social order. This chapter also proposes that "when there is distinction between man and woman, then husband and wife have righteousness; when husband and wife have righteousness, then father and son have affection; when father and son have affection, then ruler and minister are upright," regarding the wedding as the starting point of all ethical relations. The "Duke Ai Asked" chapter of The Book of Rites quotes Confucius: "When husband and wife are distinguished, father and son affectionate, and ruler and minister solemn—when these three are set right, all things follow." It is evident that in Confucian theory the wedding is not merely a personal act but the foundation of political order. It is worth noting that the "Wedding Rites of a Shi" recorded in The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial was originally the ritual of the shi class, but later ages treated it as a general norm, and it gradually spread upward to the upper nobility and downward to the common people, breaking through the old pattern of "rites do not descend to the common people." In tombs of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods uncovered by archaeology—such as the Jin marquis cemetery at Tianma-Qucun in Shanxi and the Chu tomb at Xiasi in Xichuan, Henan—the inscriptions on dowry vessels record the aristocratic "companion marriage" system, which can be mutually corroborated with the procedures recorded in The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, showing that the Six Rites had a genuine basis in practice in the pre-Qin era.
As for the date of the compilation of The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, the mainstream scholarly view holds that it was composed around the turn of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, its text edited by Confucius and his later disciples. In the Han dynasty it was established as an official academic office, Zheng Xuan wrote a commentary on it, and in the Tang dynasty Jia Gongyan wrote a subcommentary, forming the Annotated and Subannotated Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, which became the authoritative basis for later ritual systems. From excavated documents, the nine bamboo-slip chapters of The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial unearthed from the Han tomb at Mozuizi in Wuwei, Gansu—including "Shi Meeting One Another," "Commentary on Mourning Garments," "The Single Victim," "The Lesser Sacrifice," "The Officials," "The Feast Rites," "The Great Archery," and "Mourning Garments"—among which the "Mourning Garments" chapter contains provisions such as "a wife for her parents-in-law," largely consistent with the transmitted text, prove that the Han-dynasty text of The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial was already widely circulated. Although the Wuwei slip text does not include the complete "Wedding Rites of a Shi," the provisions on mourning grades for "a wife for her husband" in the "Commentary on Mourning Garments" unearthed from the same tomb indirectly reflect the legalization of marital relations among the shi class. In addition, the "Legal Questions and Answers" in the Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi contains the provision, "If woman A, being another's wife, departs and flees, and is caught or surrenders herself, and is not yet six chi in height, should she be tried or not?"—concerning the formation and dissolution of marriage, showing that by the Qin dynasty at the latest marriage was already subject to state legal intervention; although the Six Rites procedures were ritual institutions, their social force cannot be underestimated.
2. Nacai and Wenming: The Initial Stages of Matchmaking and Divination
Nacai was the first step of the Six Rites, in which the man's family asked a matchmaker to propose to the woman's family, using a wild goose as a meeting gift. The Yili, in the "Shi Hunli" chapter, records: "The proposal and nacai are sent down, using a goose." Zheng Xuan's commentary states: "The goose is used as a gift because it follows the yin and yang in its comings and goings." In pre-Qin ritual institutions, the goose held special symbolism: as a migratory bird that follows the yin and yang in its movements, it was considered to "never miss its time," and its orderly flight symbolized orderly marriage and proper hierarchy between elders and juniors. Moreover, geese were difficult to capture and required archery rituals to obtain, implying that the man possessed bravery and ritual propriety. Jia Gongyan's sub-commentary of the Tang dynasty further explains: "The goose, when leaves fall, flies south; when ice melts, goes north—following yin and yang in its comings and goings, this is the meaning of a woman following her husband." Thus the choice of the goose ritual underwent careful symbolic consideration. In addition, during nacai, the envoy needed to "have the assistant go out to inquire about the matter, then enter to report," and the woman's host would "welcome him outside the gate, bow twice, and the guest bows in return"—the ritual details were elaborate.
In pre-Qin literature, records of using geese as gifts are numerous. The Rites of Zhou, in the "Chunguan, Dazongbo" chapter, records: "Using birds as six gifts to rank the various ministers: the solitary one holds skins and silk, the minister holds a lamb, the grand officer holds a goose, the scholar holds a pheasant, the commoner holds a duck, the artisan and merchant hold a chicken." This shows that the goose was a gift for the grand officer rank; using a goose in the scholar's wedding ritual indicates that the man's family took the grand officer's ritual as reference, demonstrating respect for the woman's family. In archaeological discoveries, bronze inscriptions from the Western Zhou to the Spring and Autumn period commonly feature the character "ying," such as "Cai Hou ying Wu Ji" (Cai Hou Shen plate) and "Qi Hou ying Meng Jiang" (Qi Hou yi). These ying vessels were dowry ritual vessels when nobles married off daughters; although not directly corresponding to the nacai goose ritual, they reflect the widespread practice of "using objects as tokens" in pre-Qin marriages. After nacai, the envoy needed to "go out, and the host escorts him outside the gate, bowing twice"—the ceremony was concise but solemn.
Wenming followed immediately after nacai, where the matchmaker inquired about the woman's name and the date and time of her birth. The Yili, in the "Shi Hunli" chapter, states: "The guest holds the goose, asks for the name; the host consents; the guest enters and presents it as in the initial ritual." The core purpose of wenming was to "divine the auspiciousness or inauspiciousness," using turtle shells or yarrow stalks to determine whether the union conformed to heaven's mandate. This step reflects the close integration of "parents' command and matchmaker's words" with divination culture in pre-Qin marriages. The Zuo Zhuan, in the fourth year of Duke Xi, records that Duke Xian of Jin wished to make Li Ji his wife and divined it, with the result "inauspicious." The diviner said: "Yarrow divination is short, turtle divination is long; better to follow the long one." Ultimately, Li Ji was still installed, which later led to disaster, showing that divination results had practical influence in noble marriages. The Shuihudi Qin bamboo slips' Day Book also contains numerous records on marriage taboos, such as "On jiayin and yimao days, one must not marry off a daughter," indicating that wenming divination was equally popular in grassroots society. Furthermore, the Book of Rites, in the "Quli Shang" chapter, states: "If a man and woman do not have a matchmaker, they do not know each other's names," treating the matchmaker as an indispensable intermediary for marriage. Wenming was precisely the key step in which the matchmaker exercised her function.
3. Najib and Nazheng: Divination and the Determination of Betrothal Gifts
Najib was the public announcement of the divination result after the inquiry of names. If an auspicious omen was obtained, the man's family sent a matchmaker to inform the woman's family, and the marriage was preliminarily settled. The Yili (Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial), in the "Shihunli" (Marriage Rites of the Common Gentleman) chapter, records: "For naji, a wild goose is used, as in the nacai rite." Zheng Xuan's commentary states: "The divination was reported in the ancestral temple; having obtained an auspicious omen, a messenger was again sent to inform them, and the matter of marriage was thereby settled." This step demonstrates that the establishment of marriage in the pre-Qin period took ancestral temple divination as an important basis; marriage was not merely a contract between two clans but also involved the approval of ancestral spirits. After naji, both parties entered the nazheng stage, which was the most critical economic step among the Six Rites: the man's family formally presented betrothal gifts to the woman's family, marking the establishment of the marriage agreement.
The Yili, in the "Shihunli" chapter, records that the gifts for nazheng were "dark and light-red silk bundles and paired deer hides"—that is, five bolts of black and pale red silk, along with pairs of deer skin. Zheng Xuan's commentary notes: "A bundle of silk is ten lengths; li means a pair; pi is deer skin." The dark and light-red colors symbolized the colors of heaven and earth; the silk bundles and paired hides represented the pairing of yin and yang. The amount of betrothal gifts varied according to rank. The Rites of Zhou, in the "Diguan, Meishi" section, states: "In all cases of marrying a daughter or taking a wife, the silk presented shall not exceed five liang." However, in later ages the betrothal gifts of the aristocracy far exceeded this amount. In the Han dynasty, Zheng Xuan explained in his Commentary on the Rites of Zhou that "five liang" meant "five bolts," each bolt being four zhang, so five bolts equaled twenty zhang, roughly sixty meters in modern measure. It is worth noting that the nazheng gifts were not merely material goods but ritual objects with strong symbolic meaning. The dark and light-red colors were taken from the colors of heaven and earth; the silk bundles symbolized the harmony of yin and yang; the paired hides symbolized pairing in twos. The Baihutong Yi (Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall), in the "Marriage" chapter, further explains: "Zheng means to complete; a messenger is sent to present silk in order to complete the wedding rite." Thus the core function of nazheng was "completing the marriage"—that is, establishing the legitimacy of the marriage through material exchange.
From excavated documents, both the Baoshan Chu slips and the Tianxingguan Chu slips contain divination records concerning "reporting to the ancestral temple," involving matters such as marriage and travel, indicating that marriage in the Chu region during the Warring States period likewise required divination to seek the ancestors' instructions. In addition, the "Rishu" (Day Book), Type A, from the Shuihudi Qin slips at Yunmeng contains a "Taking a Wife" section, listing in detail auspicious and inauspicious days for taking a wife, such as "On bing-shen and ding-you, one may take a wife," further corroborating the actual operation of the naji step among the lower levels of society. After nazheng, the marriage agreement had legal force. The Tang Code with Commentary, in the "Household and Marriage" chapter, stipulates: "In all cases where a daughter is promised in marriage, if the marriage document has been reported and there is a private agreement, and one rashly regrets it, sixty strokes of the rod shall be given." Although this is Tang dynasty law, its origins can be traced to the contractual function of nazheng in the pre-Qin "Six Rites." It can thus be seen that the Six Rites procedure was not merely ritual but also the mechanism generating the legal force of marriage.
4. Requesting the Date and the Personal Welcome: The Climax of the Rites and the Bridal Chamber
Requesting the date was the step in which, after the man's family had divined an auspicious day, they sent a matchmaker to inform the woman's family and ask them to confirm the wedding date. The Ceremonies and Rites · Wedding Rites of a Common Officer records: "For requesting the date, a wild goose is used; the host declines, the guest assents, and the date is announced, following the rites of presenting betrothal gifts." Zheng Xuan's commentary explains: "The host declines out of modesty and respect; the guest assents and announces the date." On the surface, this step had the man's family asking the woman's family to set the date, but in essence the man's family had already obtained an auspicious result through divination and expressed respect for the woman's family through humble wording. The ceremonial gift used for requesting the date was still a wild goose, showing that the goose ran through all Six Rites and became a symbolic token of marriage ceremony. Du You of the Tang dynasty, in the Comprehensive Institutions · Rites Section, cites the ritual system of the Jin dynasty, stating that "for requesting the date, a wild goose is used, as in the rite of presenting betrothal gifts," which shows that the rite of requesting the date was still observed during the Han and Jin periods.
The personal welcome was the last step of the Six Rites and also the most solemn. The groom went in person to the bride's home to welcome and escort her, completing the wedding. The Ceremonies and Rites · Wedding Rites of a Common Officer records the personal welcome in great detail: "The host wears the juebian cap, a crimson lower garment, and black borders; all attendants wear dark formal robes; he rides a black carriage, with two attendant carriages, and men carrying torches lead the horses." The groom wore the juebian cap and robes, the crimson lower garment being pale red and the black borders trim; all attendants wore dark formal robes; he rode a black carriage with two attendant carriages, and men carrying torches led the way. Upon reaching the woman's home, "the host, in dark formal robes, welcomes him outside the gate, faces west and bows twice; the guest faces east and bows in reply." Then "the guest enters and takes his position in the hall; the host ascends by the eastern steps, facing west; the guest ascends by the western steps, facing north, lays down the wild goose, bows twice with his head to the ground, descends, and goes out." The rite of laying down the wild goose was the core of the personal welcome: the groom placed the goose in the hall to express reverence for the bride's family.
After the personal welcome, the groom returned first, and the bride then rode to her husband's home. The Ceremonies and Rites · Wedding Rites of a Common Officer states: "The host bows and leads the woman in; when they reach the bedroom door, he bows and enters; she ascends by the western steps; the accompanying maids spread mats in the southwest corner; the husband enters the chamber and takes his place; the wife is west of the wine jar, facing south; the accompanying maids and attendants pour water for washing and exchange places." Then they performed the rite of "sharing the same meal," in which husband and wife ate from the same animal, and then the rite of "joining the nuptial cups," in which a gourd was split into two halves and husband and wife each held one half and drank, symbolizing their union as one body. In later ages, the rite of joining the nuptial cups evolved into the exchange of cups of wine, which still survives in wedding customs in some regions. The Book of Rites · The Meaning of Marriage summarizes the significance of the personal welcome: "The father pours a libation for his son and commands him to go to welcome the bride, because the man takes precedence over the woman. The son receives the command and goes to welcome her; the host sets out mats and tables in the ancestral temple and bows to welcome him outside the gate. The son-in-law enters holding the wild goose, bows and yields as he ascends the hall, bows twice, and lays down the wild goose, because he has personally received her from her parents." It can be seen that the personal welcome was not merely an escort for the bride, but also a rite in which the groom received the command of the bride's parents in the woman's ancestral temple; the marriage thereby gained the recognition of both families' ancestors.
5. The Cultural Logic and Hierarchical Differences of Betrothal Gifts
Betrothal gifts served multiple functions within the Six Rites. First, they were the material proof of a marriage's establishment. The Book of Rites, "Summary of the Rules of Propriety, Part I," states: "Without receiving the betrothal gifts, there can be no association or intimacy" — that is, without acceptance of the betrothal gifts, the two parties could not associate or draw close. Second, betrothal gifts were economic compensation from the groom's family to the bride's family; especially in an agricultural society, a woman's marriage meant a transfer of labor, and the betrothal gifts compensated the bride's family for its loss to a certain extent. Third, betrothal gifts were a display of the groom's family's social status, with the abundance or modesty of the gifts directly reflecting the family's economic strength. The Rites of Zhou, "Earthly Offices, Matchmaker," stipulates: "The betrothal silk shall not exceed five lengths" — a ritual upper limit on betrothal gifts, preventing disorder in marriage caused by excessively heavy betrothal gifts. In actual history, however, betrothal gifts often far exceeded what the ritual system prescribed.
Hierarchical differences in betrothal gifts were reflected in the ritual systems of successive dynasties. The Kaiyuan Rituals of the Great Tang prescribed that when a prince took a consort, "ten bolts of dark and light red silk, and two pairs of deer hides"; when an official of rank took a wife, "five bolts of dark and light red silk, and two pairs of deer hides"; and for commoners, "one bolt of silk, with no deer hides." In the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi's Family Rituals simplified the Six Rites into Three Rites, merging the Proposal and Asking the Name into "Proposal," merging the Divination of Auspiciousness and the Presentation of Betrothal Gifts into "Presentation of Betrothal Gifts," and merging the Requesting of the Date and the Personal Welcome into "Personal Welcome," with betrothal gifts simplified accordingly. Yet in actual popular practice, betrothal gifts instead grew increasingly burdensome. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, large numbers of "betrothal gift lists" survive among Huizhou documents. For example, the "Wanli-era Betrothal Gift List of the Cheng Family of Xiuning" enumerates items such as "one pair of gold hairpins, one pair of silver hairpins, four bolts of colored satin, two sheep, and four jars of wine," far exceeding what the ritual system prescribed. The inflation of betrothal gifts led to the phenomenon of "impoverishment caused by marriage," and Qing dynasty local gazetteers repeatedly record that "marriage was judged by wealth, so that the poor could not even manage it."
The cultural logic of betrothal gifts was also embodied in the system of "return gifts." After accepting the betrothal gifts, the bride's family was required to return part of the property in the form of a dowry, forming a "betrothal gifts—dowry" cycle. The Family Instructions of Master Yan, "Managing the Household," criticizes: "In recent times, in marrying and taking wives, there are those who sell their daughters to obtain wealth and buy wives by handing over silk, comparing fathers and grandfathers and haggling over every penny," showing that by the Northern and Southern Dynasties period betrothal gifts had already shown a tendency toward commodification. Tang law further stipulated: "Where betrothal property is taken as a pledge, even without a marriage contract, it still constitutes a marriage." That is, the betrothal property itself could serve as evidence of a marriage's establishment, demonstrating the legal importance of betrothal gifts. From a sociological perspective, betrothal gifts are a form of "marriage payment," whose essence is the redistribution of resources between families; they both reinforced the patriarchal family structure and provided women with a certain degree of economic security — the two aspects coexisting.
6. From Ritual System to Folk Custom: The Simplification and Survival of the Six Rites
After the Tang and Song dynasties, the Six Rites gradually became simplified. In the Northern Song dynasty, Sima Guang's Book of Ceremonies reduced the Six Rites to three—"presenting betrothal gifts, presenting betrothal money, and personally welcoming the bride." In the Southern Song dynasty, Zhu Xi's Family Rituals followed this system and simplified the ceremonies further. In the "Wedding Rites" chapter of Family Rituals, Zhu Xi stated: "The ancient rites numbered six; today they cannot all be performed, so only three are retained." This simplification became mainstream during the Ming and Qing dynasties, yet many elements of the Six Rites were still preserved in actual folk marriage customs, such as "proposing marriage," "exchanging horoscopes," "sending betrothal gifts," "setting the date," and "welcoming the bride," which corresponded respectively to presenting betrothal gifts, asking the name, presenting betrothal money, requesting the date, and personally welcoming the bride. The Comprehensive Rituals of the Great Qing stipulated that officials of rank should perform four rites in weddings—"presenting betrothal gifts, presenting betrothal money, requesting the date, and personally welcoming the bride"—while commoners should perform three—"presenting betrothal gifts, presenting betrothal money, and personally welcoming the bride." The complete form of the Six Rites was visible only in the family ritual texts of the scholar-official class.
In modern and contemporary times, the material forms of the Six Rites have undergone tremendous changes. Because wild geese were difficult to obtain, the goose ritual was replaced by geese or chickens in folk practice. The Qing Dynasty Unofficial Anecdotes, in the "Marriage" category, records: "In today's weddings, few use wild geese; most substitute domestic geese, taking them as resembling wild geese." Betrothal gifts evolved from silk and deer hides to gold and silver jewelry, cash, furniture, and real estate. In contemporary Chinese marriage customs, the "bride price" in the presenting betrothal money stage still widely exists, but it has come into tension with modern law. Article 1042 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "It is prohibited to extort property through marriage." This provision directly responds to the social problem of exorbitant bride prices and prompts people to rethink the reasonable boundaries of betrothal gifts in the contemporary era.
From the perspective of intangible cultural heritage, many ceremonial details of the Six Rites have been transmitted as folk customs. For example, the "Ten Miles of Red Dowry" marriage custom in Ninghai, Zhejiang, has been included in the national intangible cultural heritage list; its core is the display and transportation of the dowry, directly related to the logic of return gifts in presenting betrothal money. The "exchanging cards" custom in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and other places is a folk survival of asking the name and divining auspiciousness. Although these folk customs have departed from the overall framework of ancient ritual systems, the social function behind them—"forming a bond between two families"—continues. As a set of procedures, the Six Rites have changed in form, but the essence of marriage as the reproduction of family and social relations has not changed. To understand the Six Rites is not only to understand a set of ancient rituals but also to understand how Chinese society constructs order, allocates resources, and confirms identity through ceremony.
Conclusion
The Six Rites evolved from the rituals of the shi class in the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial into a marriage procedure that ran through more than two thousand years of Chinese history. Their vitality lay in the social functions the rituals carried: establishing a relationship through the matchmaker, seeking the will of heaven through divination, confirming the contract through betrothal gifts, and completing the union through the personal welcome. Each step had a dual meaning, both symbolic and practical. The betrothal gifts were not a simple flow of goods and money, but an exchange of status, standing, and trust between families. When the Six Rites are reduced in the contemporary era to two stages, "bride price" and "wedding ceremony," the spirit of ritual propriety contained in them—reverence, prudence, gravity, and correctness—faces a test. How to reconstruct wedding rites under modern law and the concept of equality is a question contemporary society needs to answer.
Looking back at history, the simplification and transformation of the Six Rites never stopped, yet their core logic—that marriage is a matter of the family and also a matter of society—never changed. Today, when people discuss exorbitant bride prices, wedding consumption, and freedom of marriage, they are in fact still in dialogue with this ancient procedure. Tradition is not an unchanging artifact, but a resource reinterpreted in every practice. The insight the Six Rites may offer is perhaps this: rituals can be simplified, but the respect, responsibility, and connection in marriage still need to be confirmed and expressed through some form.