Wedding traditions of Guangzhou
The Cantonese wedding city, home of the Chinese wedding tea, the dragon-phoenix bangle and the cake gifts.
Cantonese weddings are well known abroad because of emigrant families. The bride gets gold jewellery in the form of the dragon and phoenix, and the groom's family sends large cakes and a roast pig in some traditions.
A wedding here
The groom comes to the bride's home, passes the door games, and the couple serve tea to elders in turn, who give red envelopes and gold. The bride wears a red two-piece dress called qun kwa, embroidered with gold thread. A banquet follows in the evening in a restaurant, with a dragon and phoenix theme.
Where weddings happen
Restaurants and hotel ballrooms. Dim sum restaurants host wedding lunches in some families.
The season and the calendar
Lunar dates are chosen by a feng shui master or by family. The seventh lunar month is avoided. Many weddings take place in autumn.
Wedding customs of Guangzhou
Also part of it, and being written: Gate crashing (The door games.), Tea ceremony (The offering of tea.).
A wedding trail idea for Guangzhou
- Shangxiajiu A pedestrian shopping street.
- Wuyang Gold Market A jewellery market.
- Beijing Road A shopping road.
- Shamian Island A heritage island often used for pre-wedding photographs.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, venues and wedding-season dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Chinese pre-wedding customs: Anonymous ( China ) Unknown author, CC0, source
- Qungua: Fduyjfroea Homz, CC BY-SA 4.0, source