Why don't asian women wear wedding rings?

Question

Living in Southern California and in contact with lots of married asian women I've always wondered why the majority don't wear wedding rings..I'm talking Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese.

Answer 1

The wedding ring, and in particular the diamond ring, are relatively new concepts in Asian culture. For example, take this quote about the introduction of the engagement ring to Japan in the late 1960s. Not very long ago at all! The ring is not necessary in their culture to have a wedding, it's just an "Americanization."

"Until the mid-1960s, Japanese parents arranged marriages for their children through trusted intermediaries. The ceremony was consummated, according to Shinto law, by the bride and groom drinking rice wine from the same wooden bowl. There was no tradition of romance, courtship, seduction, or prenuptial love in Japan; and none that required the gift of a diamond engagement ring. Even the fact that millions of American soldiers had been assigned to military duty in Japan for a decade had not created any substantial Japanese interest in giving diamonds as a token of love.

J. Walter Thompson began its campaign by suggesting that diamonds were a visible sign of modern Western values. It created a series of color advertisements in Japanese magazines showing beautiful women displaying their diamond rings. All the women had Western facial features and wore European clothes. Moreover, the women in most of the advertisements were involved in some activity -- such as bicycling, camping, yachting, ocean swimming, or mountain climbing -- that defied Japanese traditions. In the background, there usually stood a Japanese man, also attired in fashionable European clothes. In addition, almost all of the automobiles, sporting equipment, and other artifacts in the picture were conspicuous foreign imports. The message was clear: diamonds represent a sharp break with the Oriental past and a sign of entry into modern life.

The campaign was remarkably successful. Until1959, the importation of diamonds had not even been permitted by the postwar Japanese government. When the campaign began, in 1967, not quite 5 percent of engaged Japanese women received a diamond engagement ring. By 1972, the proportion had risen to 27 percent. By 1978, half of all Japanese women who were married wore a diamond; by 1981, some 60 percent of Japanese brides wore diamonds. In a mere fourteen years, the 1,500-year Japanese tradition had been radically revised. Diamonds became a staple of the Japanese marriage. Japan became the second largest market, after the United States, for the sale of diamond engagement rings."

Answer 2

Asian Wedding Rings

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Why don't asian women wear wedding rings?
Living in Southern California and in contact with lots of married asian women I've always wondered why the majority don't wear wedding rings..I'm talking Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese.

Answer 4

Maybe because people steal them. Or maybe they know the true value of a person don't lie in the ring on a finger. Maybe they save gold for all the electronics they have. Or maybe their is still a suppression of asian women, or maybe they think a ring means ownership. Did anyone think that it just might be women in your area? Try asking someone, direct communication should work well.

Answer 5

I am Asian too and do not wear my wedding ring at times. The reason is because ring does not mean that much, it just a material thing. It can be lost anytime. I do not need the ring to keep or show the relationship to others. My husband does the same as well.. what matters to us are the commitment and trust.

Answer 6

That is a generalization for sure. Those who were married overseas (before they came to the US), they might not have exchanged rings and wedding vows like here. Other items such as bracelets might be their tradition. The ring has symbolic meaning of forming a bond or binding as I heard a Christian minister say once. The (old) Chinese tradition is for the groom's parents to give gold items, typically bracelets, to the bride as gifts. These bracelets have a dragon and a phoenix to symbolize male and female so it is for marriage only. But these expensive items are not to be worn daily but special events.

I wouldn't say that for Asian women who grow up and married here following American customs.

Answer 7

Erm, actually they do wear wedding rings. If you are refering to the old ladies that you had seen in southern california, this is because in the old times jade braclets are used as wedding rings rather than the present days where the ring is on the fourth finger of the hand. But normally nowadays, the asians tend to wear the present day ''wedding ring''.

Answer 8

A lot of women and men don't wear wedding bands, They are secure. Some cultures wear them on the other hand, Why don't you just ask one of them, it would not be an insult and then you would have your answer from the horses mouth so to speak.

Answer 9

Chinese Wedding Ring

Answer 10

because in the west the wedding ring is a alert sign of im married and can't get laid with you...
in asia(not asian americans) more womans have their rings in their mind near the moreal values