How did a matchmaker act in”the arranged marriage”？
2 min readA matchmaker is also called”the old man under the moonlight.” This saying originates from an ancient legend.As it says，there was a scholar whose name was Wei Gu. One night Wei Gu passed by a town where he came across an old man who sat at the roadside and read a book under the moonlight.The old man had a large bag with him.For curiosity the scholar came to the old man and said，“what are you reading？””It is a marriage registration book，”replied the old man.Thescholar said again，”what’s inside the large bag？””Well，”said the old man，“the bag contains pieces of red threads.I use the threads to tie the feet of an unmarried man and woman.Once the feet of the man and the woman are tied with my red thread，they are destined to get married with each other even though they are thousands of miles apart.”
In bygone days the sexes were segregated，and a maiden was not supposed to seea male stranger under any circumstances.The higher the family standing was，thestricter the segregation.Such being the case，marriages had to be arranged.In looking for a prospective wife or husband for their son or daughter，the parents had to consider a number of factors，and they would invite a professional matchmaker to act for possible mates for young boys and girls and perform in the following old-fashioned wedding procedure.
When an unmarried boy’s family found a prospective daughter-in-law，a matchmaker would approach the prospective daughter-in-law’s family in the most casual manner；it had to be casual to avoid embarrassment.The matchmaker visited the daughter-in-law’s family with gifts.She proposed the possible marriage between the two families.If the offer was not unacceptable，the girl’s details would bewritten on red paper and given to the matchmaker，who would return to the boy’sfamily.Afterwards the matchmaker frequently commuted between the two families，delivering letters，marriage documents or gifts，interpreting the horoscopes and confirming an auspicious date for a wedding.
On the wedding day the matchmaker would accompany the bridegroom to the bride’s home to pick up the bride.In addition，she would work as an assistant in the wedding ceremony.After the ceremony，the boy’s family would give her some gifts and money wrapped in red paper as a token of thanks.The amount of money was largely dependent on the family’s financial situation.
After the founding of New China in 1949，the new marriage law was put in force，and arranged marriages were officially prohibited.At present，people realize thatmarriage should be based on the complete willingness of the two parties；no third party is allowed to interfere.However，in some remote villages，young peasants sometimes seek the help in arranging their marriages or agree-upon matches，in which the young people have the freedom to accept or reject the proposed candidate.
