Love O2O: Ep 15 The Hairpin

I already mentioned the hairpin by Weiwei as one of the highlights in Episode 15.

link: Love O2O: Episode 15 Highlights

But I’m bringing it up again because I found more information when I was googling hairpins. Not being Chinese (or Asian for that matter), I plead “not guilty” for my ignorance. I didn’t know!!

Image result for she didn't know gif

But how could Luwei Weiwei not know the significance of giving Yixiao Naihe a hairpin? Even if she gave him a hairpin only online, Weiwei should have known that exchanging hairpins was an integral part of a Chinese wedding ceremony (pretty much like wedding rings in a Western wedding) and anticipated that Nai would attach much importance to her gift.

No wonder he didn’t hesitate to call her “my dear wife” after that.

source: Wikipedia

While hairpins can symbolize the transition from childhood to adulthood, they were closely connected to the concept of marriage as well. At the time of an engagement, the fiancée may take a hairpin from her hair and give it to her fiancé as a pledge: this can be seen as a reversal of the Western tradition, in which the future groom presents an engagement ring to his betrothed. After the wedding ceremony, the husband should put the hairpin back into his spouse’s hair.

Hair has always carried many psychological, philosophical, romantic, and cultural meanings in Chinese culture. In Han culture, people call the union between two people “jie-fa” (Chinese: 結髮), literally “tying hair”. During the wedding ceremony, some Chinese couples exchange a lock of hair as a pledge, while others break a hairpin into two parts, and then, each of the betrothed take one part with them for keeping. If this couple were ever to get separated in the future, when they reunite, they can piece the two halves together, and the completed hairpin would serve as a proof of their identities as well as a symbol of their reunion. In addition, a married heterosexual couple is sometimes referred to as “jie-fa fu-qi” (Chinese: 結髮夫妻), an idiom which implies the relationship between the pair is very intimate and happy, just like how their hair has been tied together.

And no wonder she fanned herself after that “intense” moment.

And no wonder he stared into space (literally) and indulged in a bit of fantasy outside on the balcony afterwards they said goodnight online.

According to this website, www.hairpinmuseum.org, hairpins were even use as “pledges” when the couple had to separate right after the wedding. In case they’re separated for a long time, and don’t recognize each other at their next reunion, the hairpin was used as sort of an ID or identification card. lol.

source: http://www.hairpinmuseum.org/hairpins-in-society-and-art.html

Girls started to wear hairpins in their hair when they were fifteen. This signified that she could enter into marriage. Males and females are quite different in their rites of the passage. Although it was not necessary for females to wear hats, they paid more attention to their hairstyles and their hair ornaments. What are the reasons for these differences between male and female? It was because Chinese society was very patriarchy. Females always love to dress beautifully than males but women were not allowed to go outside their home and therefore they did not need to wear hats. Instead they focused on their hairstyles. Women and girls had different hairstyles at different ages. The shape of the young girl’s hairstyle was always likes the letter “Y”. They did not comb their hair into a bun. However, when she was fifteen years old, after the rite of passage, she released her pigtail. After washing her hair, she combed her hair into a bun, and then she put hairpins in it. The hair bun told people that she was an adult from then onwards. Thus, hairpins played an important role in the rite of passage from child to woman. They were also connected closely with marriage. Hair is important in Chinese minds. We call a married couple “結髮夫妻”, which means the relationship between the husband and the wife is just like they tie their hair together. Clearly, matrimonial ceremony always focused a great deal on the hair.
No matter whether before the marriage of after, hairstyles and ornaments showed something special. People could judge the marriage from the hair ornaments. In the engagement, the fiancée took the hairpin form her hair and gave it to her fiancé as a pledge. This is a reversal of the Western tradition of the potential groom presenting his betrothed with a ring. After the wedding, the husband put the hairpin back to his new wife’s hair. Also, a small lock of the hair was always the pledge between lovers. In ancient times, an engaged couple were not able to see each other so often and as an exchange of pledges they would cut a lock of hair for each other. They kept the hair just like kept each other. When the couple would get married the bride had to comb her hair to symbolize a new beginning. Even after the wedding, sometimes a married couple had to be apart for long intervals of time. Long-distance communication was not as convenient as it is in modern times and they were afraid they would not be able to recognize each other any more. So some couples used their hair as a pledge while others broke a hairpin into two parts. Each one took one part. When they met again in the future they could put the two halves together again as proof of identity and as a symbol of their reunion.

Considering that she was going to be gone for the whole summer, he needed this hairpin as a promise from her.

So, in her absence, she left him two things: the hairpin to bind him to her and the cactus to remind him of her. Those were her dowry, or her “property” she was giving to him, on the occasion of their marriage.

8 Comments On “Love O2O: Ep 15 The Hairpin”

  1. I don’t usually post but just to let you know that I love reading your blog, especially your thoughts about our fav couple…keep ’em coming…thank you so much

  2. Wow! Totally didn’t catch the hairpin significance the first time I watched Love O2O. Thanks for another insightful post, and awww..how romantic Weiwei!

  3. No wonder he was so happy that night and played with the boys. He was very touched and he knew that WeiWei is binded to him.

    Thank you. I have knew meaning now for hairpins. 🙂

  4. I bet he won because he was counting cards! hahaha!

  5. Yup. We wouldn’t put it passed him! Smart Ass! 🤭 LOL!

  6. We got this Xiao Nai figured out.

    I didn’t know a thing about hairpins either and it bugged me. 🙂

  7. I thought it was a big thing but I didn’t know it was marriage related so no wonder it was a big deal to Xiao Nai 🙂 . It’s WeiWei’s response to he’s ‘you’re all I need’ and ‘I’m a married man now so I can’t go fixing some girl’s computer’.

  8. Pingback: Love O2O – Bitches Over Dramas

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