In southern Zhejiang Province, making shang jiao xie (shoes worn while stepping into the sedan chair) before getting into the sedan is akin to praying for auspiciousness.
Either the bride or others can make the wedding shoes. These kinds of shoes are made with red and green cloth and usually with a soft sole, and are worn by the bride as she steps into the sedan chair. In some places, relatives who are thought to have good fortune make such shoes, while in other areas, they are made by the bride and another single girl on the morning of the wedding day.
All about Wedding Shoes
In the Haizhou Region of East China's Jiangsu Province, wedding shoes are known as xi xie or "happy shoes". Before liberation (in 1949), when a girl was getting married, she usually wore a pair of happy shoes, which were made with red cloth or silk and were sometimes embroidered with flower patterns in the front part. With the increasing appearance of leather shoes after liberation, the bridal wedding shoes gave way to the leather ones. The bridegroom's first pair of shoes after marriage should be made or bought by the bride.
In the Longquan Area of Sheeting Province, there are many regulations on the bride and bridegroom's wedding shoes. For example: The bride usually wears pink or orange wedding shoes, which are made by a girl whose parents are still alive or a grandma who has witnessed three generations. The front uppers are embroidered with a pair of phoenixes picking peony flowers. Inside the shoes is a lining of white cloth, on which is embroidered a pair of the Chinese character "喜," meaning happiness.
On the wedding day, the bride wears this pair of shoes to get on and off the sedan chair, as well as for the following three days. After that, the shoes will be put away. When the first child she bears reaches one month old, she wears this pair of shoes to meet guests to show that she is a first-time mother. The bridegroom's shoes, on the other hand, are made with black cloth by the same kind of people who make the wedding shoes for the bride, and can be worn until they are worn out.
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