Chinese finally get their wedding photos

It had been a long wait, but hundreds of Chinese couples finally finished their wedding photos yesterday as a colourless episode from the past was finally closed in glorious fashion.

Forty years ago, the Cultural Revolution began condemning couples to black and white weddings. Couples were married in their work clothes and got a monochrome photograph, marriage licence, and patriotic lampshade. Bride and groom were married while Red Guards roamed the streets denouncing intellectuals, and thousands suffered and died.

Middle-aged couples who got hitched during those 10 years of ideological fervour are keen to relive their big day at the Red Twilight Wedding Photo Studio in Shanghai. They are having their wedding pictures retaken in style, with white gowns and morning suits, traditional qi pao dresses and sequined outfits. The wedding albums are called Kisses with Flowers, Only Love and Pure and celebrate "a groovy kind of love" - a long way from little red books teaching the thoughts of Chairman Mao.