The custom of crying marriage was seen in many parts of Sichuan province (southwestern China) and remained popular until the end of the Qing Dynasty (the last dynasty in China). Today, although this tradition is not as popular as ever before, it is still practiced by people in many places. People of Tujia ethnicity still treat it as a necessary marriage procedure even today.

In western Sichuan Province, the custom is called "Zuo Tang (Sitting in the Hall)". Usually, the bride begins to cry a month before the wedding day. As the night falls, the bride walks inside the hall and weeps for about an hour. Ten days later, her mother joins her, crying together with her.; another ten days later, the grandmother joins the daughter and mother, to cry together with them. The sisters and aunts of the bride, if she has any, also have to join the crying.

The bride may cry in different ways with diversified words, which was also called "Crying Marriage Song"; the somewhat exaggerated singing helps to enhance the wedding atmosphere. In a word, crying at a wedding is a way by custom to set off the happiness of the wedding via falsely sorrowful words. However, in the arranged marriages of the old days of China, there were indeed quite a lot of brides who cried over their unsatisfactory marriage and even their miserable lives.

In fact, swearing at the matchmaker used to be an important part of crying marriage, as well as the most rebellious part. In the old society, women were bound by the so-called "three obedience and four virtues", thus having no say in their marriage, which was all arranged by the matchmaker and the parents. Therefore, the brides often swore at the matchmaker before stepping inside the sedan, which was also seen as a pent-up of their dissatisfaction with and hatred of the old matrimonial system.

Crying marriage is treated as a matrimonial custom by every Tujia girl although she may feel dissatisfied with her bridegroom. Some brides begin to cry as early as two months before the marriage, while others begin to cry for at least ten days or half a month before the wedding day.