As India awakens from the fever dream of the outrageous display of wealth and power that was the Ambani wedding, one reads Liu Xinwu’s 1984 novel Zhonggulou or The Wedding Partyis the perfect accompaniment to this madness.
Weddings have always had different purposes. In addition to uniting the bride and groom and their respective families, it has been a popular setting for forging new relationships, improving social status, reliving the past and the struggles that led to this happy moment, and hoping for a happy future and more weddings where the events can be repeated once again, ideally with more splendor.
The wedding day
Translated by Jeremy Tiang and published by Amazon Crossing in 2021, The Wedding Party is a vivid memoir of the meaning of weddings, the dreams they fulfill, and the longings they awaken. The 400-page novel takes place over 12 hours (from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.) on December 12, 1982, as the Xues prepare for their son Jiyue’s wedding to Xiuya. Aunt Xue wants the wedding to go smoothly – she carefully chooses the menu, procures alcohol, and prepares for the guests’ arrival. Since wedding planners are unknown, the success of the event depends entirely on her skills as a good housewife and the goodwill of her neighbors. The Xues’ and their neighbors’ houses are packed together in the hutong alley of Siheyuan Courtyard in Beijing’s Drum and Bell Tower District.
Like every family everywhere, Aunt Xue finds a reason to be annoyed with her older daughter-in-law, Zhaoying, for not showing up promptly at 5 a.m. to help her with the preparations. Her eldest son is also missing – she’s upset that he decided to work all night even though his little brother is about to get married. As the clock ticks, we learn of the grand preparations the family has made. Much like an Indian wedding, Aunt Xue is not pleased about having invented certain guests and is afraid of what others will think. She knows she will be eyed critically, but she can’t let tongues wag any longer than necessary to make the usual complaints. Everyone is on edge, finding themselves surrounded by an irritable and often comical crowd of neighbors, parents, children, and in-laws. Each of them has a story to tell – all grander than life. So when Liu writes, “No one and nothing in Beijing is ordinary, and even their ideas are sacred, noble,” one cannot help but agree with him.
The delicious food, described in great detail, and the general merriment of the party do not distract the reader’s attention from the changes about to take place in China. It is 1982, and although the Cultural Revolution is over, guests recount their sacrifices and the leaders’ commitment to changing China’s social landscape. The beginning of Deng Xiaoping’s reform era and the hope at last of a true revolution in which the common man will put his worst days behind him lighten the spirits of the wedding guests as they gorge themselves on the lavish offering of meat, alcohol, sweets, and cakes, until then rare commodities. The new era of prosperity is also highlighted by the easy availability of coffee (which the Chinese detest) and American-style cream pies.
The wedding thus becomes a fabulous occasion where each guest can show off the treasures they have amassed during these prosperous times. Color portraits are taken, a car and chauffeur are hired, the groom is given a Rado watch. Guests chat amongst themselves about Japanese electronic devices and cheaply made Chinese goods that have made seasonal fashion desirable for the younger generations. This has also led to a slight increase in crime and infidelity, but this is dismissed as a tendency of the youth.
Old wounds
However, the older generation still sees giving up personal “comforts” as the ultimate form of sacrifice. So it is hardly surprising that Aunt Xue goes into debt and forgoes essential medicines to serve meat to guests and pamper them with American cigarettes. The former policies of communism have been replaced by socialism, and recent economic liberalization has led to such superficiality in order to maintain one’s social status.
The wedding guests, who also represent a (very) diverse cast, include an opera artist, high-ranking diplomats, a sullen-faced grandmother, a country girl visiting Beijing, typical hooligans and spendthrifts, a professor, a student who has gathered under Aunt Xue’s roof with his dreams and hopes – sometimes as trivial as drinking to one’s heart’s content after a long dry spell or setting up a home with its own kitchen and bathroom.
Life in 1982 was still a remnant of the “old” days – but as the day progresses and more guests arrive, Liu reveals the discontent, envy and resentment that have become embedded deep within the apparent friendliness of the extended network of family and friends. Nostalgia is replaced by each family’s difficult struggle to survive. While the government and social order have changed, the same cannot be said for the ordinary people who still wait for better times.
In a solemn moment during the wedding, Aunt Xue “sees each other as tragic figures—Ji Zhiman is pitiful, Mu Ying is lonely, the Xues have been robbed, the bride is bitter, Han Yitan is indecisive, Tantai Zhizhu feels inadequate.” Through these brief descriptions of some of the guests (and hosts), Liu conveys the troubled feelings of a changing society.
Towards the end of the novel, Liu philosophizes beautifully on the eternity of time. As communities come together and separate, governments rise and fall, and marriages are made and dissolved, the only thing that is true for all is the passage of time: “The Bell Tower and Drum Tower will remain as eternal witnesses to history and fate… The two towers stand eternally tall, waiting for the next moment, the next day, the next month, the next year, the next generation.”
The Wedding Party is one of the most compelling novels I’ve read in a long time – the long, winding backstories of each character, the social commentary that emerges from a seemingly ordinary wedding, and the brief forays into Chinese political history make us aware of how much our inner lives are influenced by external factors that are often beyond our control. The personal is political – it always has been and always will be.
Jeremy Tiang’s translation from Mandarin brings the joyous wedding to life with bright splashes of color, and by the end of the party, you’re pretty sure you’ve tucked into the sweets, braised pork, dumplings and noodles, drunk a little too much, smoked forbidden substances, and barely escaped the many altercations without too many scratches.
The Wedding PartyLiu Xinwu, translated from Mandarin by Jeremy Tiang, Amazon Crossing.
