| The reform and opening-up drive has greatly enhanced the standard of living for the Chinese population, who enjoys the economic benefits and at the same time consumes the cultural imports. The globalizing tide has swept all over the world, stirring up the fear that it is leading to a flat leveling of human experience imbued with Western culture. Wedding ceremonies, a cultural phenomenon composed of ritual symbols, offers a window on the impact of globalization on local culture. The Western symbols have its presence at the wedding ceremonies in contemporary China, as represented by the "white weddings", a term for the mainstream weddings in Western world. Yongcheng, a medium-sized county in Henan, also witnesses the powerful impact of the Western nuptial mode. The generation born in the1980s is exposed to broader and deeper impacts from the globalization. Drawn on a one-month field work in Yongcheng, the thesis is devoted to present a symbolic explication of wedding ceremonies of the post-80s generation against the back drop of globalization.In this thesis, the data was collected from two sources:videos and interviews. The video materials consist of three wedding DVDs and seven self-made wedding records made in participant observation, and the interviews were conducted with two wedding emcees and ten married people of the post-80s generation in unban Yongcheng. The wedding ceremonies in the data all occurred after2010, mostly in the year of2012, so that the consistency and originality of this thesis can be ensured.The symbols of the wedding ceremonies in question fall into three categories: ritual symbols for the natal family, ritual symbols for the bridal couple, and the ritual symbols for the community. All the symbols, displayed and felt by visual, audio, or behavioral means, are explored in great detail. The analysis then moves to look at how the globalization tide has nurtured cultural values in the young generation born after the opening-up in1979.Based on the thorough depiction and the corresponding interpretation, there are some findings:(1) The ritual symbols to pay obeisance to family elders retain strong and vital in Yongcheng nowadays, though the weddings are no longer under their absolute control. Community constitutes an important part of an individual’s lives, so the necessity for maintaining social ties and standing is asserted in the symbolic considerations.(2) The way in which ritual symbols are constructed within globalization is not a zero-sum game, but a process in flux. The Western symbols have been "localized" in the reconstruction of wedding ceremonies in Yongcheng. What was viewed as exotic and modern and have applied so many times that they are embedded in the habitual assumption of a local wedding.(3) The majority of informants long for individualization, but the current value system has been mapped onto preexisting norms. The ten post-80s informants, despite their pursuit of a personalized wedding, all conformed to conventionalized ceremonies, according to the expectations of their parents and the community.Starting from the symbolic perspective, this thesis represents a cross-cultural attempt at the study of wedding ceremonies, a domain generally exclusive to anthropologists. Based on the research, a conclusion can be reached that the two cultural values of collectivism and high power distance are underlined and strengthened in the ritual symbols of present-day wedding ceremonies in Yongcheng. As a result, the traditional symbols are largely maintained at rituals associated with the older generation and the community, while symbolic system for the newlyweds are by and large materialized through the Westernized items and practices, on condition that the Western-style symbols coincide with the traditional values. |
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