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You're listening to Ancient Relics and Their Stories, a special series of A Thousand Wise Getting married like a princess is probably a universal dream for many girls in love. But how to make it reality? Well, for Brides in Eastern China's Ninpo city, a bridal sedan chair once lived up to every girl's romantic expectations of a perfect wedding. Welcome to Ancient Relics and Their Stories, I'm Ling Xiaowen. Crafted in the early 20th century, it is perhaps the utmost luxurious wedding car. Its splendidness and craftsmanship are comparable to those of the imperial state Lando, the centuries-old royal carriage that transported the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince William and Kate Middleton back to Buckingham Palace after their wedding in 2011. No exaggeration at all, the bridal sedan chair in Ninpo took a dozen craftsmen more than a decade of pure manual labour. Thus, it's called wang gong jiao in Chinese, which translates as a sedan chair requiring one craftsman 10,000 days to make, reflecting the time and effort put into its creation. The chair looks like an ornate miniature palace and has numerous stunning embellishments. One and a half metres in length, nearly three metres in height and weighing 200kg, it requires eight strongmen to carry it. Such a massive sedan chair is assembled without a single nail or rivet, relying on masterful wooden joinery, where each piece fits together seamlessly. That's why today only one master can single-handedly dissemble and reassemble it for repair and maintenance. It's made with fine wood and nearly all the embellishments are gilded with gold leaves amounting to 5kg of pure gold worth 450,000 USD today. It's no wonder that the bridal sedan chair still sparkles under the sun more than 100 years later. The structure of the chair resembles a seven-storey tower with each chair decorated with statuettes, pears, jade, grand tassels, embroideries and stained glasses. How many statuettes do you think this bridal sedan chair has? The answer is 250, with human figures and auspicious creatures including the phoenixes, Chinese lones or dragons, magpies and fruit such as the pomegranates. They together create a diverse blissful scene. Once on the road, spectators simply see a dazzling moving royal palace in parade. One eye-catching statuette features a mythical auspicious animal called qilin alongside a little boy. It heralds an outstanding child to come. A qilin is a combination of the Chinese lones or dragons, tiger, deer and oxen. Known for its gentleness and benevolence, it's believed that the first human it brought to a family was the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Legend has it that Confucius' father longed for a healthy boy who could participate in ritual ceremonies for the family. One night, he dreamt that a qilin came to his home and left a straw, indicating the birth of a boy endowed with exceptional wisdom and virtue. The next year, the family indeed had a newborn, who later became one of the most influential thinkers in China and the world. Since then, a qilin with a boy alongside it has become an auspicious symbol commonly featured in weddings, paintings and home decorations, certainly the best choice for a wedding sedan that ushers in a would-be mother and it would be no ordinary child. Another statuette that often catches the eye is that of a rather hideous-looking man holding a pen in his hand. This man, named Kui Xin, is known for being knowledgeable and ranked among the top three in the National Academic Examination of future officials in ancient China. This statuette symbolizes the hope that the bride's children will get into elite colleges after being touched by the magical pen of Kui Xin. The symbols of Chinese loans or phoenixes were exclusively reserved for the emperor and emperors in ancient times, so how did they come to be carved on the bridal chairs for ordinary families in Ningbo? That has to do with the story passed down from the Song Dynasty about 1000 years ago, when the Song was invaded and defeated by the troops of the Qing state from the north. Duke Zhao Guo fled from his enemies to Ningbo. His father and elder brother, both former emperors, were captured. He came across a lake and met a young girl washing clothes on the bank. The girl helped him to escape by hiding him in the water and covering him with clothes. She then misted the Qing soldiers by pointing them in the wrong direction. The Duke emerged from the water after his enemy left. He gave his word that he would reward the girl once he won the battle and establish a new dynasty with him as emperor. But unfortunately, he was unable to find her again. To honor the girl who saved his life, the new emperor granted all brides in Ningbo, the privilege to enjoy the same royal treatment as the queen in the wedding ceremony. Since then, it has become a local custom for the bride's family to offer their daughter an abundant diary, and the bride of Sidantia was one of the most recognizable items, demonstrating the status and support of the bride's family. Just like modern wedding cars are often rented for specialized companies, bride of Sidantia's became available for rent as wedding services. And so, in the early 20th century, many wedding rental companies offered opulent Sidantias to attract wealthy customers. The Wang Gongjiao, or the king of the bride of Sidantia, belonged to Zhu Chuanlai, who was an ambitious businessman from Ningbo and ran a wedding rental company in Shanghai in the early 20th century. It took him more than a decade to craft an unparalleled bride of Sidantia during which he faced severe financial crisis and had to sell his stocks to pay for the massive initial investment. However, he was determined to accomplish it, hoping that he would help his company earn a reputation as the most influential in the region. Zhu designed the bride of Sidantia in the distinctive Ningbo style, employing over a dozen master craftsmen using the finest materials and incorporating traditional woodworking techniques from his hometown. At the most difficult time, when no one believed he could finish what he had started, Zhu Chuanlai needed a high-profile figure to help reverse his ill fate. He homed in on Yu Chaqing, a Ningbo-born wealthy businessman, as the most appropriate game-changer. He managed to persuade the banking giant and inland navigation tycoon based in Shanghai to put a down payment to reserve the Sidant for his daughter who was about to get married. Yu Chaqing was a highly controversial figure at that time, but it was just those controversies that made him the right person. He was a visionary entrepreneur with a sharp instinct for spotting emerging trends. Yet he was also a notorious capitalist who was condemned for cashing in on scarcity of resources during wartime causing price hikes and public panic. He also had a righteous side as he assisted the government and army in dealing with Japanese invaders in 1938 when he was in his 70s. He sank his vessels in the Yangtze River in order to delay Japanese warships from advancing upstream to the interior parts of China where troops withdrew to create buffer zones to protect Chongqing, the wartime capital after Nanjing fell to enemy troops. Together with other inland river transportation tycoons, they enabled the Chinese government army to move a large amount of war material including weapon-producing equipment from the east coast westwards to Chongqing. The operation in 1938 is now often referred to as the Chinese Dankek, comparing it to a similar endeavour by allied nations in their battle against Nazi Germany in World War II in the European theatre. So here we have the most hated and most respected business icon renting the most luxurious wedding sedan for his daughter. In addition, people heard Yu Chaqing talking about how he admired the craftsmanship of the sedan chair. On the wedding day, the Wang Gongjiao lived up to everyone's expectations. It was said that Yu Chaqing's daughter was so proud that her father arranged such a spectacular chair for her and couldn't stop admiring its details delaying her journey to the wedding ceremony. Thanks to this high-powered event, the reputation of the Ninbu Bridal sedan chair had been further enhanced. What a perfect advertisement for the product and the rental service. The wedding became the talk of the town, drawing many powerful figures to attend. Hence, a stunning and breathtaking Bridal sedan chair became a must or a standard routine for a perfect ritual. You might be wondering why Ninbu is so renowned for producing Bridal sedan chairs that have gained national recognition. As a crucial coastal city of eastern China, Ninbu's economy has flourished since the Qing dynasty. Its access to international trade help it grow economically, attracting merchants, entrepreneurs, both Chinese and foreign. Influenced by the thought of Confucius, local families that shared ancestral lineage often formed large extended family groups or clans, which had a significant impact on local society, especially during the imperial and early modern periods. Due to its economic success, many families there were willing to pay for large-scale ceremonies such as birthdays, weddings and funerals. So Ninbu has been famed for its craft and history of making first-class Bridal sedans. Earning to the dedication of Ninbu businessman Zhu Chuanlai, the Bridal sedan chair, considered one in a million, came into being and offers us an insight into the marriage colors, traditional craftsmanship and the time-ordered culture behind it. Wang Gongjiao became a timeless source of inspiration for contemporary designers and craftsmen. If you'd like to see in person how enchanting the Bridal sedan chair can be, come for a visit to the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in eastern China. Before we end today's show, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Zhejiang Provincial Museum for providing knowledge and insights about Wang Gongjiao. In the next episode, we will present several tomb paintings illustrating what the people from the Wei and Jin periods between 220 and 420 BCE ate and how food was cooked and served at grand banquets of the upper class, which offer a window to the way of lives, the nature of society and cultural beliefs of the era. We hope you have enjoyed this episode and look forward to seeing you in the next. Until then, bye for now.