When procession bearing the dowry reached the bridegroom’s family, there would be a great din of drums, pipes and fireworks over the sky to welcome its arrival. It was a complex process for people to unload the dowries. Usually a close relative of the bride’s family would present a list of the items and read aloud every article of the dowry while the helpers from the bridegroom’s family would unload and carry the articles to the courtyard one by one. The dowry lists for the wealthy family were really impressive. For ordinary families, if they have put the wooden furniture at the front of the procession of dowries, they would declare loudly “wardrobes (柜子?uì zi) first”.

Then the helpers would carry in the wardrobes first to express the wish that the first-born child would be a son, for in Chinese, “wardrobes (柜子?uì zi)” and “dear son (贵子?uì zǐ)” are pronounced similarly. If mosquito nets and beddings were at the front, they would also announce them in a clever way to allude to good luck and prosperity. After all the dowry items had been unloaded, the relative who read the lost would hand the list and the keys to the chests to the bridegroom and congratulate him at the same time. After the ceremony, the bridegroom’s family would hold a grand banquet to entertain the bride’s relatives who had accompanied the dowry.