Anyone up for an invite
to this wedding---Four men in northwest China have been sentenced to prison for
the grisly crime of digging up the corpses of 10 women and selling them for
"ghost marriages." The grotesque "brides" were sold for a
total of 240,000 RMB, or $38,000, according to court reports. The grave robbers
were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two years and four months to two years
and eight months in prison. The bodies were sought by families of men who died
as bachelors. The buyers were arranging "ghost marriages," a
traditional custom in which parents find "spouses" for their
unmarried, deceased children so that they can have a family in the afterlife.
The
cadavers were stolen from their graves in Ya'an province beginning in the
winter of 2011, according to reports. They were dug up in the middle of the
night and hid in the thieves' homes where the corpses were cleaned up. Forged
medical records were created in hopes of making it appear the corpses were only
recently deceased and coming from reliable sources, allowing them to charge
premium prices. Ghost marriages are a 3,000 year-old custom that is especially
common in rural parts of north China where young men often die in coal mining
accidents. When a young man dies a bachelor, family members may consider it
unnatural, and fear that the deceased's spirit may be restless.
Wan
Jian Hong, director of the Institute of Folklore and Cultural Anthropology at
Beijing Normal University, said some folks fear that the unquiet ghost would
come back to haunt them, causing all sorts of trouble for his family, and
searching for a scapegoat replace his death, so that he could be reborn.
Parents hope that by arranging a "ghost marriage" they could comfort
the deceased son's soul, and save him from a lonely afterlife. Ghost marriages
were outlawed decades ago, but have been making a comeback as China's economy
has boomed. Rural families are better off and able to afford ghost brides.
Times have changed since two families
would meet and arrange to marry off their deceased children. Now a new market
for brokers, known as "ghost matchmakers," has sprung up. The price
of corpses on the black market can reach as high as thousands of dollars. The
younger, prettier and more recently deceased a female corpse is, the higher the
price she commands. A growing demand for fresh female corpses has fueled the
trade in bodysnatching. Chinese media have reported cases of brokers murdering
women and selling their bodies for ghost marriages. In 2006, a man from
northern Hebei province murdered six women and sold them as "ghost
brides."
The Qing Ming Festival, also known as tomb
sweeping day, is coming up next month. That is the day when people honor their
deceased ancestors. It is also thought to be the most auspicious day for ghost
marriages and engagements. So what do you think?
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