October 5, 2010

Red Chinese Excalibur

For decades after the great red revolution of 1949, weddings in China were no grand affair. In fact, for many decades the state selected your spouse-to-be.

But when the doors opened to the world and Deng Xiaoping proclaimed to his people that "to be rich is glorious," that soon all changed. Today's weddings in China are as complicated and ostentatious as any in the West, no matter what the socio-economic class of the couple and their families.

Today I just want to share with you this red gem... a Chinese version of the neoclassic Excalibur dolled up to drive some new couple into their new-found marital bliss.

Guangdong, 2007

Posted for Mary's Ruby Tuesday where you'll find more links to people seeing RED.

22 comments:

Kay L. Davies said...

An amazing car, Francisca. I'm not sure about the pink ribbons and bows on a red car, but it certainly is, um, ostentatious.

Kay, Alberta

Lui said...

Haha, what a car! I remember how my Chinese friend Cecille came home to their brand new house after their wedding to find the master bedroom in RED! Red is a symbol of fertility. I agree because my friend now has 7 kids!

tapirgal said...

That's quite fun. I even like the pink with the red.

Mo said...

No matter what system, people at the end of the day love rituals. (of any kind) but especially marriage

Kim, USA said...

I don't mind about the red car it's gorgeous!!
Ruby Red Tuesday

Unknown said...

It's interesting that had I not seen an example of modern-day Chinese wedding through your photos, I'd have taken a Moaist or old, old China take on a ceremony.

This was a fascinating post!

Gina

Chubskulit Rose said...

That's hot!

My Ruby Tuesday

eden said...

Wow, beautiful red car! Great shot.

Maria @ LSS said...

Cute ruby car!

Kaori said...

I've heard that you HAVE to wear a red china dress at a Chinese wedding because it brings good luck! Do you think that's tru?

As for this car...WOW! ;D

Joanne said...

Yuck! Don't like that at all....!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Funny, tonight I was telling my son and making my husband recall how I got married in a small Toyota. Our Friend has a big Ford falcon, but he went overseas, and promised his cousin will come and drive me.

In the morning, my husband sensing something might not be right, arranged a contigency plan and asked our friend. Luckily he was very happy.

Maybe I should drag my husband to GuangZhou for a second wedding. LOL

Auntie E said...

What A fun riding vehicle for the married couple.
My Ruby Tuesday link for you

Louis la Vache said...

hee hee!
The Excalibur in the U.S. has an interesting history. Stylist Brooks Stevens was hired by Studebaker to design a new line of cars in the mid 1960s. Stevens took Studebaker's plight to heart and went an a quixotic crusade to save Studebaker. You can read a little about that story here and a related post (though not about Stevens) here. Among the things Stevens did was to build the Excalibur using a Studebaker frame and the Studebaker 289 cubic inch V8 engine. The Excalibur design was based on the Mercedes SSK of the late 1920s. Stevens launched the company to build the Excalibur outside of and apart from Studebaker, but using the Studebaker components. The Excalibur continued in production until Stevens' death and the company dissolved in a family feud over Stevens estate. Here is a photo of a Stevens Excalibur.

Gattina said...

I am considering to remarry and use this car ! lol !

Thanks for your comment on my travel blog. Ruby Red is here

Hootin Anni said...

Oh yes indeed...I do love your RT....thanks for the invite!!

And to leave a link in comments...here is a tutorial

scroll down just a little bit, to HTML LINK SYNTAX

http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/html_links.asp

Raven said...

Cool car... and very red. Happy Ruby Tuesday.

Lowell said...

Omigod! What a car! Perfect for your theme! It's rather too bad, though, that other countries copy our bad habits or should I say our tendency toward profligacy.

EG CameraGirl said...

That's quite the car!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Fabulous car -- and isn't it true that red is the color for brides in China (instead of white)? I'm not sure of this -- everything I know I learned from novels.

It's just a beautiful car. I guess I'm glad for China that they can have an ostentatious wedding if they want to do so. (Not my style, but everyone should have their own choice.)

VP said...

It looks like something out of a cartoon...

Unknown said...

So this is 'your' car of the week! :-) It's fantastic! Never seen one like this before.