>I'm Chinese. Please do not seek to describe my own culture back to me with Wikipedia. Well, Americans e.g. are pointed to Wikipedia (or other sources) for fal

>I'm Chinese. Please do not seek to describe my own culture back to me with Wikipedia. Well, Americans e.g. are pointed to Wikipedia (or other sources) for falsehoods they believe about America all the time. And most of the time, Wikipedia is right and they are wrong. Being a national or resident of some country doesn't mean you are always correct about it (or even that you are EVER correct: Glenn Beck followers come to mind). So let's stick it to the facts and numbers and point to sources and/or arguments. That said, while I agree about the general "cultural imperialism" of Shenism, the gist wasn't it, but that Buddhism is not THE prevalent religion in China. Which you agree with as far as I can see. >My contention is the marriage as practiced in China is not primarily a religious event. Nowadays it might not be. But wasn't that the case in USSR too, when religion was frowned upon? (Not that PRC is that kind of stuck up nowadays, but from what I've read about the Cultural Revolution a lot of things got a remake). Wikipedia, again, gives these "mythological origins" of Chinese marriage: The story about the marriage of Nüwa and Fu Xi, who were once sister and brother respectively, told about how they invented proper marriage procedures after becoming married. At that time the world was unpopulated, so the siblings wanted to get married but, at the same time, they felt ashamed. So they went up to Kunlun Shan and prayed to the heavens. They asked for permission for their marriage and said, "if you allow us to marry, please make the mist surround us." The heavens gave permission to the couple, and promptly the peak was covered in mist. It is said that in order to hide her shyness, Nüwa covered her blushing face with a fan. Nowadays in some villages in China, the brides still follow the custom and use a fan to shield their faces. >Or perhaps, alternatively, marriage in China is primarily a cultural institution, where religious motifs are applied, removed, and changed over millenia to suit the religious mores of its time? Well, that happens in the west too, but we're talking origins here. At the time the ceremony/idea was established, not even Buddhism or Taoism was available, but folk and pagan religions were. Actually Buddhism is a quite recent phenomenon, historically speaking.