Wedding shoes have different names in different places.
In ancient times, wedding shoes were also called "Zodiac Shoes", since a propitious date was chosen for the wedding ceremony. When getting on the sedan chair, the bride always wore a pair of yellow shoes, which were changed to red ones upon her arrival at the bridegroom's family.
In some places, wedding shoes refer to shoes worn while making formal bows to the bridegroom's parents at the traditional wedding ceremony, and are therefore named cai tang xie or "stepping hall shoes". In other places, wedding shoes refer to those worn by the bride when changing her hairstyle on the wedding day, featuring a thin sole, red lining, and embroidered flower patterns. After that, the bride has to change to another pair of shoes, and throw the wedding shoes under the bed to show her determination of not marrying again.
In the old days, the bride often wore a pair of soft-sole shoes when spending the night in the nuptial chamber softened by candlelight. When in bed, the bridegroom would take off the shoes for the bride, and then look at the drawings inside the shoes together.
There is another kind of wedding shoes called hui men shoes. A month after marriage, the brides' family usually invites the bride to live with them for several days, which is known as hui men. The bride can live there for a month if accompanied by the bridegroom. Otherwise, she can only live as long as her mother-in-law allows, usually eight or eighteen days. During her stay at her parents' home, the bride has to make each member of the bridegroom's family a pair of shoes, which are the so-called hui men shoes.
