Hong Kong Stories - Centennial Stories (English Version) Series 51：Happy Marriage Thereafter

The kwan kwa is a gown worn by women at their weddings in traditional Chinese wedding etiquette. The red cloth is embroidered with lifelike patterns of dragons and phoenixes using glittering gold and silver threads, and it carries the blessings from the elders to the new couple. A hundred years ago, the Chinese government promulgated the clothing decrees which stipulated the styles of men’s and women’s formal gowns, and so the gown generally adopted by commoners was a black jacket with a red dress. At that time, the use of kwan kwas was not limited to weddings; many people would wear them to grand occasions such as listening to Xiqu.

Qipao master Jody KAN has a collection of kwan kwas with a long history, and she studies traditional Chinese costumes in depth. From the cutting and embroidery patterns of kwan kwas, she interprets the thoughts hidden behind the design of kwan kwas a hundred years ago.

Timmy WONG, who has been running an embroidery shop for more than 40 years and making bridal gowns for countless brides, has witnessed the evolution of kwan kwas and the rise and fall of the kwan kwa industry in the past 40 years. Amid the changes, he sees the eternal value of kwan kwas.

Kwan kwas have become popular since the Qing dynasty and have a history of more than 100 years. Today, many brides still choose a kwan kwa as the bridal gown they wear when they leave their maternal home, and Karen is one of them. Karen, who has entered another stage of her life, had her mother put on a kwan kwa for her when leaving for her husband’s home. She bid farewell to her identity as a daughter and stepped into her husband’s home, and had a special feeling for the symbolic meaning of the kwan kwa.

After a hundred years of evolution, kwan kwas today have very different meanings to newlyweds and each couple has their choice and values they cherish. Nok-yi, who has been married for five years, only had a simple marriage certificate-signing ceremony on the wedding day. The wedding dress she wore was a long white dress borrowed from a friend. She and her husband, Emad, have a different take on the kwan kwa, bridal gown, and weddings.