Marriage is a ritual to govern the relationship of men and women. In ancient times, people did not have the concept of marriage. Later for the reason of multiplication and continuation, the concept of marriage was generated gradually. Due to the differences in living environments and cultures of people, many marital customs and rituals are developed.

The topic of this website is "Marital Customs in Hong Kong". We will study the origin, changes and development of Chinese traditional marital customs. Moreover, we will investigate the customs in Hong Kong to see how it is influenced by Chinese traditional and western cultures and form a unique local culture.

China has its own traditional wedding customs, and western countries have their own too. Hong Kong is the intercepting place of Chinese and western cultures, and thus its wedding ceremony are blended with the characteristics of Chinese and western cultures.

Though Chinese traditional marriage culture is complicated, it has been much simplified in Hong Kong nowadays. Yet, as some young bridegroom-to-be and bride-to-be do respect the elders, they still follow some practices such as "combing hair", "returning present" and "returning home". On the other hand, as Hong Kong was a British colony, Christianity and Catholic were preached to Hong Kong in mid 19th century. They spread widely until now, so many Hong Kong people hold their wedding ceremony in the church because of religious reasons.

In wedding ceremonies, many brides wear both Western and Chinese wedding gowns. Some may wear western wedding gown for church ceremony, and traditional ones at wedding banquets. These are the characteristics of wedding in Hong Kong. Chinese wedding uses red as the major colour, but western uses white. Although the two have different cultures, they can both exist here. It is proved that marriage customs in Hong Kong is a mixture of Chinese and western cultures.