Teaching and Learning in Beijing : Special Guests at a Chinese Wedding

About two weeks ago we were invited by our friend who runs the Buddhist retreats to a Chinese wedding. She said that she didn't know the couple well, but for some reason she was able to invite guests and (correctly) guessed that we would jump at the opportunity to join in on the experience. 4 days before the wedding, she texted us asking if we would be willing to do a reading - one from the Bible and one poem - for the couple during the ceremony. We hesitated because we had no idea why they would want strangers to do such a thing on their special day but after making sure with her that it was what they wanted, we gladly accepted. She said she was doing a reading, too. We read over the Bible verse and poem and realized that the poem was actually about a break up… when asking our friend if the couple knew that, she replied "No, I don't think they do but they don't speak English so just read it anyway." …okay.

On the day of the wedding, the bride looked absolutely gorgeous. They popped fire crackers while she walked down the aisle. The ceremony was in both Chinese and English which was really lucky because we were able to follow along and see how a typical Chinese wedding goes. Our friend was called up to do her reading (in Chinese) and then we were called up: "Will our special guests Jacky Jean and Charlotte Wright please join us for two readings on stage." Well, here goes nothing. We get up on stage, are each given a microphone and read the verse and poem for the beaming couple who were nodding their heads as if they knew what we were saying. The bride even started crying tears of happiness while we were reading to her. It was a special feeling knowing how different this experience was from one we would have at a wedding at home but we were happy to be there and making this bride so genuinely happy. The rest of the wedding was mostly lots of eating vegetarian (the bride is Buddhist) food and "imitation meat." It was certainly a memorable experience!