Chinese Wedding Dowry Item List
After my own experience dealing with dowry, I was curious to find out what is actually included on the gift list. I found a post on a Hong Kong wedding forum (A Wedding HK) with a list of items required from the bride and groom’s family. I’ve copied and pasted it here. It includes the traditional items (in black) and items used as replacement (in orange). The original list is in Chinese, so I’ve translated the items in English. You’ll find a list of reference links below for more information.
Groom’s Dowry:
- Gift Box – red pocket, jewelry (gold), red thread, fruits, etc. (Packaged gift box sold at wedding stores, plus red pocket and jewelry)
- Wedding Cakes – measure by weight. (Give 8/18/28/38…wedding cakes and the rest give cake certificates)
- Dragon & Phoenix Cake – one pair. (no substitutes)
- Dragon & Phoenix Candles – one pair. (Usually included in packaged gift set for wedding)
- “Duilian“, Chinese poetry in pairs – one pair for bride and groom. (Usually included in packaged gift set for wedding)
- Coconut - one pair. (Might be included in packaged gift set for wedding)
- Dried fruits and nuts – dried longan, lychee, walnut, peanuts (Usually included in packaged gift set for wedding)
- Tea (leaves) & Sesame. (Usually included in packaged gift set for wedding)
- Dried seafood – 4 or 8 kinds, abalone, shark fins, fish maw, etc. (Use red pocket as replacement)
- Three live stocks - chickens, fish, pork. (Use red pocket as replacement)
- Wine – 4 bottles (Might be included in packaged gift set for wedding)
- Fresh fruits – fruit basket (shouldn’t be hard to get this one)
Note: All gift items and cakes must be in pairs. A pair of red pockets should accompany each gift. You can also prepare two red pockets with “All Purpose” (excuse my poor translation) as contingency in case something is missing.
Bride’s “Return” Gift (for the Groom’s family):
- Return approximately half of the above mentioned items in Groom’s Dowry.
- Gift for Son-in-law – red pocket, pants, belt, wallet and pair of shoes. (Use red pocket as replacement)
- Lucky plants – lotus roots, guava, ginger, etc. (Packaged “return” gift set – for bride’s gift to groom)
- Return tea – Chinese steamed cake, fried dumplings, red pocket. (Packaged “return” gift set – for bride’s gift to groom)
Note: The “return” gifts should be in pairs also. When using the “return” gift sets, be sure to check every items to ensure that nothing is missing and that the fruits are fresh.
For pictures of some of the dowry items listed above, visit Wedding100Fun.com (Chinese site).
References:
A Wedding HK Forum (Chinese)
China Bridal (English)
Chinese Historical & Cultural Project (English)
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Comments
Hi Theressa,
Thanks for visiting. It was an interesting learning experience for me to find out more about the Chinese culture and traditions thought the wedding planning.
I just happened to stumble across your blog while searching for H & N wedding photography. Thanks for providing such detailed info on the dowry list, and an extra thanks for translating it into English. I was getting confused when my friends were telling me that I have to buy this package of gift things to return the “favour”….o.O
Hi Jacqueline,
Thank you for visiting. I’m happy to know that the site was helpful for you. The wedding dowry is very confusing. I was just discussing with my parents about it last night. Since their wedding was taken care of by their parents, they actually don’t really know what is needed (except the very common items). At the end we decided to use red pockets to represent most of the items on the dowry list.
Thank you for translating the list … i only knew of the dowry when watching black/white chinese soaps (yoot yu cheun peen).
Looking forward to the dowry tradition (even if some might be represented by the red pockets).
Thanks for the information! Very helpful indeed….and we must keep the Chinese wedding tradition going for many more years to come!