CHINESE WEDDING ANCIENT RITES OBSERVED

CHINESE WEDDING ANCIENT RITES OBSERVED

Two well-known and highly respected Chinese families were linked last evening by the marriage of Sadie Way- Fon, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. K. Y. Kwok, of Wellington, and Percy Jun-Tim, son of Mr. and Mrs.' F. K. Leong Levin, at the Central Baptist Church, Boulcott Street. The Rev. P. F. Lanyon officiated. The church was beautifully decorated with pink and white lilies, and 400 guests who witnessed the ceremony and attended the reception which followed included well-known citizens and visitors from other parts of the Dominion. The bride, who was born in Hong Kong,

China, was educated in New Zealand, and has had a successful career as a law clerk in Wellington. The bridegroom, a graduate of Chi-nan University, returned to New Zealand from Shanghai at the time of the Japanese occupation. For some weeks prior to the wedding the ancient Chinese ritual demanding and interchanging thousands of assorted cakes between the two parties was carried out with great ceremony. The number of cakes bargained and agreed upon is determined rby the number of friends of the two families, as large boxes of these cakes are distributed to guests, as a preliminary of the approaching marriage. In this instance over 6000 cakes were sent out ,a few weeks ago.

The bride, who entered the church with her father, wore a trained gown of white satin embroidered with silver sequins in a diamond pattern. She wore an elaborate collarette of diamante and a dainty orange blossom tiara held in place her embroidered tulle veil. Her bouquet was of white carnations and lilies. She was attended by four of her sisters, Misses Nancy, Winnie, Mollie, and Linda Kwok, two of whom were in pale turquoise blue and two in petal pink. They wore frocks of quilted satin falling in folds from the waist and shoulder veils of stiffened tulle with coronets of petalled and sequinned organdie. Arm sheafs of pink and blue flowers were carried. Mr. Edwin Wong was best man, and the groomsmen were Messrs. Wah K. Leong, Kent Wong, and Jack Moon. The Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, who proposed the toast to the bride, said that in honouring the bride he was honouring all Chinese womanhood. He spoke of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, whom he described as "the greatest woman in the world today." Other speakers were Mrs. Fraser, Mr. Wang Feng (Consul-General for China) and Madame Wang Feng, Mr. H. Y. Jackr son, and other members of the Chinese Consulate, and Mr. A. L. Tressider. Mr. William Wah was toastmaster and M.C.

Last night's reception, given by the bride's parents, was given for Chinese and European guests, but an exclusively Chinese dinner of many courses, for which foodstuffs were brought from China, will be given by the bridegroom's parents at the end of the week.. Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 63, 16 March 1943, Page 6