Chong mi tou, the first pounding of rice
On the third day after the wedding the bride goes to the mortar and treads it for a few handfuls of rice — a token only, meaning that the rice in the kitchen is hers to pound from now on.
Pronunciation chōng mǐ tóu｜Rites of life｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
The pounding shed stands at the head of the village or the end of the lane, a stone mortar with a wooden treadle. The bride holds the bar, presses down, and the pestle rises and falls, cracking the husk off; the rice is pounded, sifted and carried back to the kitchen.
The tou in the name means the first mortarful. Like the first bucket from the well, it ends up in the kitchen: the water for cooking, the rice for the pot.
When you see it
On the same day as the opening of the well, the well first and the pounding and the stirring of the swill after. A household with no shed pounds a few handfuls in a small stone mortar and counts it done.
Words easily confused
It is one layer of the ordinary work of pounding rice: that is the daily task, this is the first time, done as a token and not for the quantity. Nor is it the opening of the well — that moves water, this moves rice.
Read next: Chaoshan marriage: from the six rites to the third-day well.
See also: Rites of life: the five thresholds side by side.
Same group: opening the well, stirring the swill.
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Last revised: 4 November 2026