On the 16th August Magnus and I celebrated our big day in my hometown Xinjiang China. We had over 180 guests. Magnus’s whole family travelled from Norway. We also had around 20 guests from Norway, New Zealand and Indonesia. This post is for our dear friends who could not make it to the wedding. Let me tell you how it all went.
My parents started looking for the venue since May 2014, it was in May this year when Magnus and I went back home for holiday we finally located this beautiful place on top of the Silk Road International Ski resort, 2300 meters above sea-level.The wooden house was named Evan’s home, it was dedicated to an Italian skier who helped designed the Ski Resort.
Magnus and I reached Urumqi on the 11th August, leading up to the wedding we spent time with my family arranging various of things. We went to the airport 8 times in two days to pick up guests arriving from overseas. We were incredibly lucky that none of the flights were delayed.
The day before the wedding the rain came, and the temperature dropped to 20 degree. Mum and I start getting messages from friends telling us it was snowing up in the mountains. We were a bit concerned because we told the guests the temperature would be around 30 degree. No one expected snow in the middle of August. But based on the weather forecast, the rain should pass by the afternoon. Indeed the sun came out shining later in the day, it was a huge relief.
The big day arrived, mum, dad and I were up at 5:30am for me to get my make up ready. I had a head cold and a bit of fever, but the make up artist were really kind and professional. She gave me hot rice congee to drink to make me feel better. By 9am I was ready to head up to the mountains. Just before we drove out from town, mum realised dad forgot his fake tooth back home. My dad lost one of his front tooth when he bite into a stone drinking porridge a month ago, he got the fake tooth from the dentist just for the wedding. So dad had to drop mum and me at a breakfast place and drove home to pick up his tooth.
Dad
Finally we were on our way, everyone in the car was feeling a bit nervous. Due to road works, the traffic was bad. When we finally reached the bottom of the ski resort, we were stopped by some road workers and told us we could not continue further. Dad told the guy nothing was going to stop us getting through because the wedding ceremony was going to take place on top of this mountain. After some negotiation and phone calls, we had to take a detour and reached the top around 11am.
When I reached the venue I saw the wedding venue was just getting ready. Tables being arranged, flowers being laid and the sounds system was not even unpacked yet. Being an event planner myself I knew things were running behind. The ceremony was scheduled to start in 3 hours. My biggest concern at that moment was not about the venue being ready or not, it was about how my 180 guests were going to get up to the mountain on time with the road works going on.
We always knew the biggest challenge of this wedding would be the logistics. We arranged three buses and four 4 x wheel drives to take guests from city to the venues. The bus can only reach the bottom of the ski resort, to take people up we planned to rely on the 4xwheel drives. It turned out to be a “daymare”, due to lack of communication between the wedding planner and the drivers, those 4xwheel drivers did not even take half of the guests up the hill. The drivers went on strike after 5 return trips, they complained the hill was too steep and their cars were not equipped to make many trips. So many of our guests had to walk up to the wedding venue, the climb was steep and it took an hour to reach. My brother Lichen was with some of the guests from New Zealand climbing up the mountain. Half way through the ascend he called me while I was sitting in my dressing room on top of the mountain. Lichen told me with great concern that it was too hot and some guests were about to faint, please have water ready on stand by at the top of the hill.
It was almost 2pm I could hear the wedding planner started telling guests to sit down. But my brother was still climbing the mountain with some of the most important guests, Lichen also had the important job to marry Magnus and I. To make the situation even more intense, Magnus called me saying that his car also got stopped at the bottom of the hill by the same guard telling them they could not going up. It was a complete chaos. After many phone calls Magnus’s driver manage to find the same detour to continue the trip up hill. The rest of the guests at the bottom of the hill also manage to catch the gondola ride up to the venue.
Magnus, Lichen and Christian
2pm, there were many guests with red faces after the long hike reached the top. I felt really sorry for them. But I was glad to hear how pleased they were with the view and the beautiful venue once they reached the top. Everyone was in really good spirit. The wedding started as planned. Lichen announced Magnus and I as husband and wife. My mom, Magnus’s dad and Magnus made beautiful speeches at the wedding. Magnus even delivered half of his speech in Chinese, he got a lot of cheers from the Chinese guests. It was pretty chaotic during the ceremony, we had many local guests crowded in front of us asking for photos, it was quite different form the normal ceremony which you get to hear what the bride and groom saying to each other.
The most chaotic part was during the buffet lunch, standing in line was not the strongest point for my people. Also we realised there were many gate crashers. They reached the top either on gondola rides or through the hiking trails, because the venue is normally open to public, they just helped themselves with the food and drinks. One of them even told our guest to hurry up and join the line to get free stuff! It was partially our fault, as we did not prepare name tags so it was hard to distinguish who is who. The wedding planner announced on the speaker that the wedding was a private function, for those who were not invited please leave. But by then we were pretty certain the gate crashers already had a jolly good time and a full belly.
Apart from the chaos, the loud noises and the gate crashers, it was such a fun day. My mum’s dance group also performed two dances, that brought many guests to the dance floor, especially the Uyghur dance was the most popular one. We had so much fun.
With our parents
In the end all the guests took the gondola down and some of them were a bit scared of the height. For my family the most important thing was that all the guests reached home safely. We were quite concerned with the location of this wedding being a bit remote and hard to reach. But it surely is one of the most stunning places I could have had my big day.
I would like to thank my best friend Magnus Lehne who chose me as his wife. Not only he tolerated my bad temper and grumpiness over a decade, he even decided to accompany me on the journey for the next many decades. Also, Magnus’s family who have been so open minded about their experiences in China. They welcomed me to their family with open arms the first time I met them. I could not ask for a better family to be part of. My dear brother Lichen who played such an important part on my big day, he translated all the speeches to English and Chinese with such accuracy and flair, helping guests from different cultures to understand each other well. My dear parents who raised me and gave me so much love. I have been spoiled since the day I was born. They poured in lots of effort in making our big day as perfect as it could possibly be.
Mum
All our guests travelled from near and far, they made the day magical. Also for the friends and families who could not have been there, your spirit and good wishes were with us throughout.
In the end, to the ones who have departed this world a little earlier. I wanted to say a big thank you for all the blessings. I always believed my dear grandma who passed away in November last year had made some great negotiations with the weather God to make my big day the most magical one possible. Who could have had a wedding in the middle of August with the snow capped mountain as the back drop? Life is wonderful and full of miracles.
On a nice Sunday morning of March the 2nd, my partner and I met up with two friends at a local market to have some coffee and good food. One of the friends asked me if I have heard on the news about what happened in Kunming. She told me a group of unidentified people use knives attakced a lot of people at Kunming train station. My first reaction was to check my phone and go on Chinese social media to find out what happened. By that time, there was no news on who was responsible. But I already had a sick feeling that it could link to my hometown Xinjiang, a region where it used to be known for its beautiful landscape, delicious fruits and unique dance and music. Now it is famous for one thing: the East Turkestani separatist terrorist attack.
Due to my constant checking on different social media , my battery was dead soon. By the time I got home recharged my phone it was confirmed the massacre is carried out by them. Based on South China Morning Post 33 people killed and over one hundred injured.
On Chinese social media , there are floods of opinions and voices, most are about feeling sad for those 33 broken families who lost their loved ones in such a brutal and inhumane way, then there are questions. Questions over religion, questions over the system, endless questions.
I was born and raised in Xinjiang, I have Uyghur friends . When I type Xinjiang in Google research, the words it is associated with are riots, unrest, terrorist …. this is NOT what anyone want their birth place to be linked with. Truth is this is something very difficult to change from now on.
Before Kunming train station massacre, when you ask Chinese what they think about Xinjiang, most will probably answer that its a faraway place where there are tensions and troubles from time to time. It won’t really affect their daily life. After 1st of March, things changed. The threat of East Turkey separatist is a challenge that every Chinese will face , apart from the pollution and keep the economy grow, the government will have many worries hanging over the far northwest.
I won’t go into deep analyse on what cause it, because many people have their own opinions about China’s policy on ethnic minority. What I want to talk about here is how it affect my way of life.
First of all, I am determined to get fit, mentally and physically . My family and friends are still living in my hometown. I want to be strong for them in case one day they need my help. Also to be fit physically means if ever I am in a situation under attacked, I want to be able to fight back or at least run fast enough to save myself.
Secondly, I want to read more , learn more about what drive us to hate each other and what make us to love one another. I want to learn more about this thing called “faith”. People say you gotta to have faith, but if we don’t even know what faith is in the first place, how can we have it?
3. I want to be kinder to others. So many tragedies happening every single day, when was the last time you hear something from the news that truly made you feel the world is a wonderful place? I can’t change the world in one day, but I can change my attitude and actions towards things around me. Be kind , and I hope it will make things a bit easier.
Life is so so short. Think of those who stand on the train station, one moment they were thinking what to do, where to stay, who to meet at their next destination, next moment they lay in a pool of blood leaving behind their loved ones with broken hearts and wondering WHY! Why this world can be so cruel and yet we still try so hard to cling on. Continue live till another day .
LIYANG'S THOUGHTS 