Here and Mao

By Chen Nan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-19 07:56

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Qu Mengmeng and Zhao Lei envisioned their wedding as an unforgettable experience: a limousine escort and a banquet for hundreds of friends, relatives and business associates at the best restaurant.

And one of the key wedding memories was of course the all-important wedding pictures.

"My wedding album is not like my friends'," says Qu, 28, a Beijing-born lawyer as she flips through her photo album.

There are no soft focused pictures, no traditional Chinese qipao in sight, no white wedding gowns and no staged shots with flashy, expensive cars.

Qu, who got married this May, beams as she turns to the album, which displays pictures of the happy couple wearing green army-style uniforms.

They are smiling at each other as they stand on a countryside road or sit inside a humble courtyard home.

Both Qu's and Zhao's parents were zhiqing - young intellectuals who went to the countryside in the 1960s to live and work with farmers.

Qu says the older generation have so-called "red complex" (hongse qingjie) or nostalgia, for their youth spent in the countryside some 40 years ago.

The couple did not want a photographer who would direct them to pose.

"Everyone wants to be different on their big day and we wanted our pictures to blend in with our families and capture the moments with a real and natural feeling," Qu says.

A Chinese wedding photograph session, which takes place before the major celebrations with family and friends, is a ceremony in itself.

Couples spend a small fortune, usually 7,500 yuan ($1,000), and a lot of time in a photographic studio.

But after enduring the painstaking procedure, many may find that their photos look just like everybody else's.

Wedding business insiders say the nostalgic or "red" wedding photography is one way in which young couples are trying to be different.

The red trend has spurred a mini-industry of stores and photography studios offering green uniforms, hats, belts and badges with Chairman Mao Zedong's image.

Zhou Xibin, founder of 2046 Photography Studio, says more than 30 percent of his customers come to the studio asking for the "red" concept photography services for anniversaries and other special events.

Zhou, a former movie-maker, says his studio uses ideas from movies and TV series, which were popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

He came up with the idea of "red concept" in 2006 and his clients were enthusiastic about it.

Zhou says his young clients are intrigued by the clothes, the accessories, the scenic locations he uses and even the story behind the red concept.

"They want to know what that era looked like, what people were thinking in those days," Zhou says.

Aside from taking them to parks and high-end hotels, his studio offers young couples chances to go to mountains and villages, which fits the red concept theme.

Zhang Yafei and Li Jing just got married a few weeks ago in Beijing.

Unlike Qu, they didn't have a clear idea of how to be different and special. The couple turned down many photo studios until they discovered a pair of green uniforms.

"We spent a whole day at 798 art zone because there are many historical scenes matching the clothes," says Zhang, 26.

"It feels like an artistic revival."

The green uniforms are popular among bridegrooms, who find it a fresh change from the universally worn black tuxedo.

"It seemed there is a lot of promotion for the ladies' dress and not much for us guys," says Zhao, Qu's husband.

"It was really fun to be dressed in the uniform."

The trend in wedding photos has transformed greatly over the past decade from low-key to extravaganza wedding gowns.

Most young couples born after 1980 want to pursue freshness and simplicity, Zhou observes.

The red concept has spread to other areas as well.

Hong Se Jing Dian (Red Classic), a restaurant in Beijing, offers typical food in the countryside, stages old-fashioned dances, plays old songs and decorates the interior with a huge red star at the door and Mao's slogan "Serve the People" on the wall.

Xuese Langman (Bloody Romance), a popular TV series, also tells the story of zhiqing 40 years ago.

"For those of us, who were born after 1980, those days are mysterious and far away. We want to recall those days on our big day," Qu says.

(China Daily 11/19/2008 page18)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2008-11/19/content_7217928.htm