More than 50 teenage girls attended a Ji Li, the Confucian-style coming of age ceremony for female in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province on April 6, 2014. The ceremony was organized by local fans of Hanfu, the traditional Chinese costume, and followed typical Ji Li practices which include making hair buns, attaching hairpins and paying tribute to Huangdi, the common ancestor of the Chinese.[Photo/Xinhua]

Coming-of-age ceremonies are rituals that celebrate a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood.The age at which this transition takes place varies from different cultures, and the formalities attached to the rituals are also diverse. In some cultures, the ceremony is related to sexual maturity, while in the others it may be a simple legal convention. The similarity shared in different coming-of-age ceremonies is that it symbolizes the transition to adolescence as the person is no longer considered a child and is granted the full rights of an adult.

Ritual honors Confucius, parents 

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