Chinese Wedding Chair

Part of Hall of Asian Peoples.

Upper part of elaborately decorated litter used to carry Chinese bride. The model seated inside wears beaded veil and costume.

A bride sits in a Chinese wedding chair as she embarks on a journey for a first meeting with the man she is about to marry. The Museum's diorama depicts this traditional passage from childhood to adulthood and from one family and way of life to another.

The bride's feet have not been allowed to touch the ground since she was dressed for the wedding; to do so would be to risk a future of bad luck. She is helped down by a woman who has been lucky, one who has not been widowed and who has several sons.