On the bluestone road of Shaxi Ancient Town, Taicang City, Jiangsu Province, 20-year-old Taicang girl He Yijun is wearing a wedding dress. While showing her Chinese-style Xiuhe dress to passers-by, she points to the “Happiness Station” behind her and introduces to them what “public welfare wedding dress” is.
He Yijun is a student majoring in mold manufacturing at Taicang Secondary Vocational School. In her spare time, she is a young volunteer of “Public Welfare Wedding Dress Happiness Station” (hereinafter referred to as “Happiness Station”).
Speaking of “Happiness Station”, this shared space jointly created by the local government and residents is well-known in this small town in the south of the Yangtze River. Xu Yang, a staff member of the Shaxi Town People’s Government, is one of the planners of “Happiness Station”. Xu Yang found that most of his friends would choose to buy wedding dresses when they got married.
“In fact, these wedding dresses are only used once and have been kept at home. They take up space but are reluctant to throw them away.” Since then, Xu Yang has wondered whether these wedding dresses placed in the corner can “bloom” again? In September 2021, Shen Kaiwen, a resident of Shaxi Town, carefully brought the wedding dress she had treasured for many years to Xu Yang and his colleagues.
The main veil, formal dress, and Xiuhe dress are the “three-piece set” she bought when she got married. Shen Kaiwen said that now we advocate changing customs and habits, and hope that these wedding dresses can be shared with people in need.
Xu Yang carefully put away the wedding dress and made relevant records. From this moment on, hundreds of donors have flocked to the “Happiness Station”.
Daily maintenance work is a big problem. Xu Yang asked Liang Xuefang, a “good person in China” and volunteer, to be responsible for the daily operation and maintenance of the station.
Every young person who comes here to donate or borrow wedding dresses affectionately calls Liang Xuefang “Auntie Liang”. Liang Xuefang has received more than 350 pieces (sets) of loving wedding dresses, including well-preserved antique wedding dresses.
“These wedding dresses were once witnesses of weddings, but now they have become flowing symbols of civilization.” She led the team to create files for each wedding dress, regularly clean and maintain it, and prepare handwritten thank-you cards for donors.
As time went by, more and more people knew the heartwarming story of “Happiness Station”. Liang Xuefang still remembers that a Shandong couple found her contact information on the Internet. “In the past, they did wedding-related business and had a lot of wedding dresses.” The Shandong couple was willing to donate these dresses to “Happiness Station” for free.
This is a beautiful transmission and happiness relay across mountains and seas. 35 packages, 108 wedding dresses, spanning 670 kilometers, from Guangrao County, Dongying, Shandong to Shaxi Town, Taicang, Jiangsu.
This is the most precious gift Liang Xuefang and Xu Yang have received since the opening of “Happiness Station”.
The relay of love is not only about giving for free, but also about helping others to the best of one’s ability. In February this year, Wang Cheng, a young man from Taicang, came to “Happiness Station” hoping to borrow two sets of bridal wedding dresses and two sets of bridesmaid dresses when he got married.
What Wang Cheng didn’t expect was that there were so many wedding dresses here, and each one was displayed, looking dazzling.
“There are so many styles that I can be dazzled. I didn’t expect such a good shared wedding dress to be free for charity!” After borrowing the wedding dress, Wang Cheng was full of gratitude.
At the marriage registration office of the Taicang Civil Affairs Bureau, every couple will receive the “Public Welfare Wedding Happiness Station” brochure and the comic version of the “Red Event Process and Standard Guidance Manual” when registering.
Opening the brochure, there are warm descriptions of traditional wedding customs “three lights” and “fried rice mountain”, as well as “micro honeymoon” route recommendations and simple wedding cases. This propaganda method that combines local culture with modern civilization also makes the reform of wedding customs warm.
The wedding of Qian Yuhui and Feng Yating is a vivid footnote to this civilized practice. Last May, the bride walked into the ceremony wearing a retro wedding dress lent by the station. There was no luxurious stage setting, but there was a light comedy “Happiness Without Troubles” written and directed by all the staff of the village committee. Through the project of “a quarter of an hour before the banquet, send blessings in a civilized manner”, the guests understood the significance of a simple wedding in laughter.
Feng Chunming, the father of the bride, did some calculations: it would cost at least 20,000 yuan to hire a wedding company, “now not only saves money, but also adds the excitement of neighborhood parties.”
During the volunteer service, volunteers such as He Yijun and Liang Xuefang also gained a lot of touching. “Some grandpas and grandmas also came to borrow wedding dresses to take wedding photos to make up for their regrets when they were young.” Looking at the happy smile on the face of the staggering old man, He Yijun felt “healed”.
According to relevant persons in charge of the Shaxi Town People’s Government, starting from 2022, the local government will launch a series of “Happy Events” projects: the “Hometown Beauty Micro Honeymoon” route that connects the ancient town attractions with the rural scenery, allowing the newlyweds to feel homesickness while riding; the “Xiwang is You” matchmaker team composed of volunteers has built an honest platform for young people to make friends.
In recent years, Shaxi Town has held three collective weddings and carried out more than 530 volunteer service activities. Yang Yuefang, director of the Marriage Registration Office of the Taicang Civil Affairs Bureau, said with emotion: “When ‘face’ gives way to ‘inside’, tradition and modernity have found a balance in the bond of public welfare.”
In Banjing Village, Shaxi Town, the tentacles of the “Public Welfare Wedding Dress Happiness Station” have been further extended. Liang Xuefang introduced that in February this year, the “Light and Shadow Happiness Station” branch in the village was put into use. The wedding dresses, Hanfu, cheongsam and other costumes donated by the villagers were not only used for weddings, but also recorded important moments in life such as the 10th birthday ceremony and the golden wedding anniversary.
“Among the donors, there are newlyweds born in the 1990s and elderly couples in their 70s.” Qian Shengshun, secretary of the Banjing Village Party Committee, introduced that the village has also opened a “Happiness Hotline”, where volunteers go from village to village to promote the transformation of customs and spread the concept of civilization to the fields. Today, Taicang City has built four “Happiness Station” branches, forming a public welfare service network covering urban and rural areas. “There are no professional models in our wedding show, but each wedding dress has a story.” After returning to school, He Yijun mobilized students from multiple clubs to join the charity wedding dress model team. “In this way, we make thriftiness a visible fashion.” In the twilight of Shaxi Ancient Town, the lights of the charity wedding dresses are lit up one after another. These costumes carrying love and memories are weaving a flowing network of civilization – not only protecting the roots of the wedding customs of the Jiangnan water town, but also promoting a new social trend of thrift and mutual assistance.