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Zhejiang province seems to have its share of the nouveau rich, who are not shy about showing their wealth either with wads of cash, gold decorations, or luxury cars, especially when it comes to a dowry, which was popular in the old days, when it was referred to as a “10-mile Red Dowry”. 浙江的“富豪”很出名，有的富裕人家嫁女时甚至以大额现金、支票、黄金、豪车等等作嫁妆。不过，这么豪华的婚礼可不是今天才有，今天介绍的“非遗”宁海十里红妆，就是当地最出名的嫁娶风俗。 
This particular dowry is a prevalent wedding custom in Ninghai county, on the outskirts of the city of Ningbo, in which the bride’s family would provide a dowry with various large items made of cinnabar wood, or embroidered items, and a wedding procession that was said to stretch for 10 miles. It goes back as far as the Song Dynasty (960-1279) but hit a high point during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, and was even added to the national cultural heritage list in 2008. 十里红妆是一种流行于以宁海县为主的浙江东部地区的婚俗，因为当地嫁女时，所用的嫁妆从床铺家具到针头线脑一应俱全，迎亲队伍绵延十里，故得此名。这种婚俗始于南宋，盛于明清，2008年被列入中国国家级非物质文化遗产名录。 
The wedding preparations consisted of six parts: the match-making; discerning the bride's birth date in accordance with the Bazi (8-character) horoscope; getting a fortune teller to predict the outcome at the bridegroom’s ancestral temple; giving gifts and cash to the bride; selecting an auspicious wedding date; and welcoming the bride. 十里红妆婚嫁仪式和中国传统婚俗一样，要经过六道关口，也就是所谓的“六礼”：纳采、问名、纳吉、纳征、请期、亲迎。 
The dowry itself has a distinct character, and calls for the very best materials of exquisite craftsmanship from the Jiangnan (south of the Yangtze) region. These consisted of wood engraved with dragons and phoenix, painted red (for happiness and joy) and decorated in gold leaf, for bridal sedan chair, wedding bed, wedding cases, and home furnishings. The sedan chair and wedding bed used special Ningbo lacquer, which was added to the national cultural heritage list, with a typical example being the Wan Gong Sedan-Chair. It was a very time-consuming process, in most cases requiring hundreds of hours of work, or “wan gong” (10,000 hours). 十里红妆最有特色的要数嫁妆。宁海婚俗的嫁妆选材考究，集中体现了精湛的江南手工技艺。独特的红色表达了喜庆、吉祥、热烈的美好愿望，是江南地区民俗传承的组成部分。陪嫁的器物主要包括花轿、婚床、杠箱、各种器皿和装饰等，所有嫁妆经朱漆贴金，雕龙刻凤，制作工艺繁缛。其中的花轿和婚床更是运用到了朱金漆木雕和泥金彩漆两种被列入国家“非遗”的技艺，“千工床、万工轿”便是典型代表。 
This custom was obviously intended to show off the family’s wealth and status and indicates a good match in social status. However, lives changed in the modern age and were influenced by other cultures, so, the practice went into decline in urban areas, but is still followed by rural families. 这一婚俗可以显示富有，增强社会地位。随着现代生活方式的改变，外来文化的冲击，十里红妆婚俗在城市已渐渐淡化，但在农村地区还保留了一些习俗。 
One person who made a name for himself for his research on the “Red Dowry” was He Xiaodao, who got an outstanding cultural figure award for 2012 for his effort, together with Mo Yan (winner of Nobel Prize for literature). The custom inspired a number of movies, songs, dramas and documentaries, such as the stage play of The Red Dowry— a Bride’s Dream and the movie The Red Dowry. 收藏家何晓道是这项“非遗”的代表性传承人，曾经空白的中国红妆理论的研究体系，就是以他一己之力建起来的，2012年他与莫言等一起被评为“2012中华文化人物”。现在“十里红妆”还衍生出电影、歌舞剧、纪录片等相关产品，如舞台剧《十里红妆·女儿梦》、电影《十里红妆》。 
供稿：中国日报 编辑：晓燕 小朱
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