3.2- Betrothal - Difference

	Past	Nowadays
Wedding date	·         Weddings would not held in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh lunar months. ·         Weddings should be held from late autumn to early spring	·         Wedding dates can be held anytime as long as the couples like. ·         For instance 131 couples married on 09/09/2009 in Hong Kong despite being the hungry ghost festival in the lunar calendar
Arranged marriage	·         Arranged wedding is common and usually both the bride and the groom did not see each other before. ·         Parents will ask the matchmaker to matchmake their sons and daughters	·         Arranged wedding is not longer exist as people nowadays are pursuing  the freedom of love ·         Instead of parents asking matchmakers to matchmake their sons and daughters, nowadays is the government who are encouraging its people to marry ( Singapore case) ·         For Singapore case, the Ministry of Community development, youth and sports has came up with a scheme known as dating treats!The Dating Treats! are offered by accredited dating agencies and subsidized by the Social Development Network (SDN). They are packages specially put together by all the dating agencies for singles to try out their services or events. Some of the packages are worth up to $500, but are now offered to all singles at just $50. But that is not all. To encourage singles to take up the packages, SDN will co-pay half the cost of $50 when singles sign up for the package at SDN's Love Byte website
Betrothal gifts	·         When presenting  the betrothal gifts, it included bridal cakes, coconuts, tea, a pair of virtuous poultry, betel nuts, wine and tobacco	·         Although we still have to betrothal gifts, some of the items may be missing or rather been changed For example the virtuous poultry. Nowadays, the grooms give a red pocket instead of live pairs of chicken, ducks and gooses. Chinese text “包羅萬有” is written on the cover of the red packet which means there are numerous items in the red packet. ·         Dragon and Phoenix bridal cake is replaced by cake in western style.