Liu li, the six rites
The six steps of the old marriage rite — proposal, name, divination, betrothal gift, the date, the fetching — which Chaoshan keeps under plainer names.
Pronunciation liù lǐ｜Rites of life｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
The six rites come from the old handbooks: na cai, the proposal; wen ming, the asking of the eight characters; na ji, the reading of the horoscopes; na zheng, the betrothal gift; qing qi, the fixing of the date; qin ying, the fetching of the bride. Chaoshan keeps all six and simply gives them names people understand: ti qin, he hun, ding qin, xing pin, qing qi, ying qin.
In Chaoshan the six are hardly ever done to the letter. Most often the fixing of the date is folded into the gift-giving, settled on the day the betrothal gifts are sent; some fold the horoscopes into the proposal. What remains is five steps, and in the villages the whole thing is simply called the five steps.
When you see it
It runs from the go-between’s first entry into the woman’s house to the bridal chair at the door. Speed depends on the two families: three to five months where it moves quickly, a year or two where the trousseau has to be assembled or a compatible year waited for.
Several sheets of red paper are written along the way — the horoscope card, the betrothal card, and before the fetching a formal invitation. Not a character may be wrong; one mistake and the sheet is written out again.
Words easily confused
The six rites are the frame, the five steps the local way of saying it — one sequence with the date folded away. The six are also spoken of together with the three documents: one side paper, the other side gifts.
Read next: Chaoshan marriage: from the first approach to the return visit.
See also: Rites of life: the five thresholds side by side.
Same group: the betrothal meal, the dressing of the hair, threading the face.
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Last revised: 4 November 2026