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Monday, June 24, 2002
A Roanoke restaurateur rented a bus to New York City so loyal friends and diners could share his son's wedding day.
By KATHY LU
He wanted to hold it in New York's Chinatown, naturally. In one of the largest restaurants there. And hundreds of friends and relatives would be invited, including loyal customers of his Roanoke restaurant, the Golden Palace in Southwest Plaza Shopping Center. "Because they're our friends," Tang said. He would offer to bus his Roanoke guests to the ceremony and back in the least amount of time reasonable - 34 hours - so as not to encroach too much on their lives. "We had no idea what to expect, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything," said Nancy Williams, who eats at Golden Palace at least once a week with her husband, Bob Williams. "These guys sort of became family for us." Tang, 49, and his family are originally from the Fujien province of China. He said the nation's largest Chinatown was an obvious choice for the wedding. "Not everybody knows Roanoke," said Tang in Fujien dialect about 5 a.m. Monday during a rest stop on the way to New York. His youngest son, Yao Zhun Tang, translated for him. "More guests would come because it's in New York." So it was that the group of about 27 people, who left Roanoke about 12:30 a.m. Monday, joined about 200 other guests - including some from Canada - for the wedding at the Jing Fong Restaurant in Chinatown. The bus arrived in New York about 10 a.m.; the wedding was at 7 p.m. The bus would leave for Roanoke at 11:30 p.m. In the city, Tang had reserved two rooms at the World Hotel on Bowery Street for the passengers to freshen up. Tang's wife and son, Yao Liang Tang, were already in New York. "I have never been so catered," said Ruth Sherman, who taught Yao Liang at Virginia Western Community College. "I'm just very happy and excited to see him and share his big day."
For the bride and groom and their families, the Chinese wedding is less a ceremony than a series of duties. The date is usually chosen according to the couple's Chinese horoscopes. For Yao Liang and Yun Ping Ni, June 17 was a "good" day to be married. It was also a date that worked well for the guests, said Jay Phan, who helped plan the bus trip. He has dated Tang's daughter, Nina Tang, for three years - and would, on this trip, become her fiance . "The hardest part was finding the right time for getting people together," Phan said. Like many Chinese-Americans, Yao Liang, 25, and Yun Ping, 24, decided to have a contemporary Chinese-American wedding. Yun Ping lives in Indiana but is also originally from Fujien. She began the day by wearing a white wedding dress ; Yao Liang wore a white tuxedo. They rented their outfits from the same studio in Chinatown and got ready together - a sight unseen in most American weddings. Afterward, the couple rode in separate cars to their hotel room. Yun Ping arrived first so she could make Yao Liang "pass" three tests, in keeping with tradition, before being allowed to enter the room. He had to know what Yun Ping's favorite food was, say why he likes her and do 10 push-ups. All this in front of their parents and friends. It took about 15 minutes, but Yao Liang eventually passed despite waffling at first on why he likes Yun Ping. He first said in Mandarin Chinese that it was a hard question. Then he said she was pretty, which was too superficial for her maid of honor, who was in the room. But Yao Liang recovered with, " he's not just pretty in the face, but pretty in her heart, too." Once he was let in, the bride and groom had to feed each other a bowl of "Tai Ping Mien" - a soup-based noodle dish that couples traditionally have on their wedding day. The long, flat noodles are meant to bring peace, harmony and a long life together. Then the couple took a 10-person limousine to Central Park for portraits. While they were there, Phan proposed to Nina during lunch at a dim sum restaurant in front of both sets of parents and friends. Nina was so surprised, she cried. "Today, we have double fortunes," her father said afterward in Mandarin.
Yao Liang and Yun Ping arrived at Jing Fong about 6:30 p.m. and immediately began posing for portraits with family and friends. By 7 p.m., Yun Ping said she was already getting tired of smiling. With about 250 guests, Yao Liang and Yun Ping spent about an hour and a half posing for pictures on the red stage, which was decorated with red chairs and framed by a red banner with gold characters. Red is the color of fortune and happiness for the Chinese. After the portraits, Yao Liang changed into a black suit and Yun Ping into a traditional red Chinese dress, the outfit Chinese brides wear. They then paid their respects to their parents by bowing to them - the equivalent of being recognized as "husband and wife" in an American wedding. In Chinese weddings, there usually is no officiator or exchange of vows. Then the couple began accepting gifts from their relatives: dozens of gold bracelets, rings and necklaces, some laden with large jade pendants. The couple had to bow three times in thanks as each piece of jewelry was put around their wrists, fingers or necks. All this was emceed by two hosts who spoke constantly in Fujien dialect like auctioneers. During breaks, the guests were entertained by singers, dancers and magicians. Meanwhile, two similar weddings were happening on either side of the Tangs'. "It was very visually stimulating," Sherman said later. Dinner was served about 9 p.m. - in the midst of the couple receiving their jewelry. Eleven dishes were brought out in an hour and a half, including a cold lobster salad, abalone and shark fin soup. Knowing they would hardly have time to touch any of the food, Yao Liang and Yun Ping ate beforehand. After receiving all the jewelry, Yun Ping changed again, into a long, glittery red dress. She, Yao Liang, and their wedding parties then visited each table with glasses of wine in hand to toast their guests, another Chinese tradition. "I thought it was beautiful," Bob Williams said. "I didn't understand half of it, but I didn't have to understand it to know it was meaningful." Guests also knew to give money in a little red envelope called "hong bao." The money is generally used to help defray wedding costs, easily thousands of dollars. After dinner, Yun Ping changed into her fourth and final dress. She wore it as she stood in the receiving line to say goodbye to the guests, who filed out quickly. The couple had only one word to say after it was all over. "Tired." But they said it with smiles. And that, to Tang, was worth the sacrifice of closing his restaurant for two days, renting a bus and not sleeping well for about 24 hours. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing," he said. For more wedding photos, click here.
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