Ji Li (ceremony) explained

T:	笄禮
S:	笄礼
L:	Hairpin ceremony
Piccap:	Jili ceremony performed in 2013
Picsize:	300px

, also known as the hairpin ceremony,^[1] ^[2] ^[3] is the equivalent of the ; the marks the transition from childhood to adulthood of a Chinese woman and involves the use of a .^[4] It is only after the ceremony that a woman is considered an adult and is therefore eligible to be married.^[5] In ancient times, the ceremony could be performed by people of any social class; however, rich people were more likely to hold the ceremony than poor people.^[6]

Origins

Both the, the capping ceremony for Chinese men, and the ceremony appeared in China in ancient times, prior to the Qin era.^[7]

Age

The ceremony occurs when a girl is engaged or if she is getting married. However, it typically takes place when a young girl reaches the age of 15 even if the girl is not engaged or married.^[8] If the young girl was still not betrothed at the age of 20, the ceremony had to be performed again.

Procedures of ceremony

The procedure of the ceremony occurs through the following steps:

A married woman, typically one of the girl's relatives, combs the hair of the young woman,
The hair of the young woman is gathered up into a bun before being fastened with a ji (hairpin) which is typically inscribed with auspicious patterns.
She is then given an adult name.
The hairpin is later removed after the ceremony.

After the ceremony, women had to learn how to be proper wives; this learning including the proper manner of speech and dress. They also had to learn needlework.

Derivatives and influences

Korea

Korean women perform a coming-of-age ceremony that follows the Confucian tradition known as Gyerye where they would braid their hair and roll it up into a chignon before putting it in place with a binyeo (i.e., a hairpin) on their 15th birthday.^[9] ^[10] ^[11]

Vietnam

The tuổi cập kê (also known as the age of wearing hairpin) occurs when a girl reaches the age of 15.^[12] At the age of 15, the girl starts to wear a hairpin, and the hairpin becomes an inseparable aspect of a woman; as such, giving a hairpin to a man symbolizes that the woman trusts the man completely. It is based on a Chinese custom.

Notes and References

Book: Understanding Chinese society . 2011 . Routledge . Xiaowei Zang . 978-0-203-80328-8 . Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon . 784952529.
Web site: Ethics: the Core Concept of Chinese Rite of Passage--《Northwestern Journal of Ethnology》2017年02期 . 2021-03-18 . en.cnki.com.cn.
Francis . Sing-Chen Lydia . 2002 . Body and Identity in Liaozhai Zhiyi . NAN NÜ . 4 . 2 . 207–231 . 10.1163/15685260260460829 . 1387-6805.
Book: Zhu . Ruixi . A social history of middle-period China : the Song, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties . 朱瑞熙 . 2016 . Cambridge University Press . Bangwei Zhang, Fusheng Liu, Chongbang Cai, Zengyu Wang, Peter Ditmanson, Bang Qian Zhu . 978-1-107-16786-5 . Updated . Cambridge, United Kingdom . 226–227 . 953576345 .
Book: Zang . Yingchun . Zhongguo chuan tong fu shi . 臧迎春. . 2003 . Wu zhou chuan bo chu ban she . 李竹润., 王德华., 顾映晨. . 7-5085-0279-5 . Di 1 ban . Beijing . 18 . 55895164.
Book: Understanding Chinese society . 2011 . Routledge . Xiaowei Zang . 978-0-203-80328-8 . Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon . 784952529.
Web site: Ethics: the Core Concept of Chinese Rite of Passage--《Northwestern Journal of Ethnology》2017年02期 . 2021-03-18 . en.cnki.com.cn.
Web site: Li . Hongrui . 2017 . Culture Insider: How ancient Chinese welcomed youth into adulthood[1] ]. 2021-04-02 . www.chinadaily.com.cn.
Web site: Coming-of-age Day . Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture.
Web site: Coming-of-age ceremony for girls(筓禮) . Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture.
Book: Guide to Korean culture. . 2013 . Haeoe Hongbowŏn . 978-89-7375-571-4 . Seoul, Republic of Korea . 107–108 . 882879939.
Book: Tri C. Tran; Tram Le . Vietnamese Stories for Language Learners : Traditional Folktales in Vietnamese and English Text (Audio Download Included). . 2017 . Tuttle Publishing . 978-1-4629-1956-7 . 1017727951.