Duncan Duan

Chinese Name: Duan Kun

Duncan at Potala Palace, Lhasa  Go to Duncan's Album

I wish you could pay a visit to my beautiful hometown in Western Hunan if you visit China. My hometown has charming natural scenery and has also given birth to a lot of great men. Here you will find fantastic Zhangjiajie, unsophisticated and primitive Phoenix Town, charming and touching Hunan girls, endless love stories, and numerous mountain songs.

If you are very interested in China’s ethnic minorities, you should come to visit my hometown, the Western Hunan inhabited by Miao, Dong, Tujia and other ethnic minorities. I tell you secretly that I am a boy from the Dong minority.

Dong minority has many festivals and celebrations. To them, the wedding ceremony is the most important and majestic one. Young boys and girls of the Dong minority get to know each other at singing meetings. They learn each other’s name via antiphonal singing. If they both have affection for each other, they will express their feelings via antiphonal singing too. After they decide to get married, they will choose an auspicious date to hold a wedding ceremony.

According to the traditional custom, the groom comes to the bride’s home to pick her up in the early morning. In the past, the groom drove his ox-cart to the bride’s home, picked up his bride, and then went back home. At present, the groom leads a fleet of limos to pick up his bride. On his way home, the limos will stop somewhere. Then the groom has to put his bride on the pre-prepared ox-cart and then drive her for a while without shoes. At this moment, anyone can tease the groom. However, the groom can not get angry. Why? A real man knows when to eat humble pie and when to hold his head high. In addition, he can burden all difficulties they meet in his future married life.

On the wedding day, the bride’s sisters will come to her home very early. When they get there, they sing ‘sister songs’ until the groom comes, praying for the bride, expressing their sisterhood and hoping that she can be a good wife. After the groom comes, he together with the bride worship ancestors and bid farewell to the girl’s parents. Then the bride’s brother carries her out of the house.

Before leaving her home, the bride sings wailing songs, which signify the love and care received from parents and reluctance to leave her families. If you had a chance, you should present at a Dong minority wedding ceremony. I am sure that you will be intoxicated by their love. Moreover, you will be moved by the bride’s wailing songs and even shed tears for her.

A thousand words are not enough to say my hometown’s beauty. When you visit China, please do not forget to come to the Western Hunan. I am looking forward to your arrival.