And the bride wore... very little indeed (telegraph.co.uk) Updated: 2006-03-14 11:37 Chinese brides traditionally married in red, the
colour of happiness. Then white weddings were introduced from the West, with
women posing in ivory silk, supported by grooms in black tie.
The latest fad, though, is simpler - the naked wedding photo - and it has not
gone down well with brides' parents.
"Some photo studios are going too far," said one angry mother. "They allow
young women to have their photos taken in bikinis or with nothing on at all. I
hope the authorities will do something."
According to a newspaper report, the mother discovered that her daughter had
two sets of photographs taken - one in traditional attire for relatives, and one
a more personal statement of modernity. Such exhibitionism is a surprisingly
common feature of modern Chinese life.
Weddings are the latest symptom. A marriage certificate takes 10 minutes and
costs 70p, leading to the popular "quicky wedding". But marriage spreads
costing, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of pounds are featured in
magazines.
Like the naked wedding photographs, they are described with a mixture of
prurience and disapproval, a reflection of the ambivalence many feel towards
changes in traditional values.
The internet has been an attractive venue for the young's competing desires
for privacy and celebrity. "Naked chatting" - where people chat online while
posing naked for a web-camera is a related and popular past-time, while women
have become famous by posing provocatively for their "blogs".
China Radio's website has warned that "private" digital images can be passed
on by unscrupulous photo studios. It illustrated the article with a picture of
Angel, a bride wearing nothing but a veil, stockings and a strategically placed
bunch of pink roses.
Angel said: "If we can record how nice we look when we are young by taking
photos, why shouldn't we? People grow older, fatter and uglier."
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