Ghost wedding haunts in China

In order to serve families who want to get married for dead men, criminals are ready to rob tombs and even kill people to have a "ghost bride" sold.

Snapping around cemeteries, burial grounds in China, not the supernatural forces but the death thieves who go to matchmaking. The ancient tradition from the 13th century Song dynasty recently flared up again, making grave robbers raging.

Ghost wedding ceremony

Most cultures in the world have an interest in the lonely deceased, there are no close relatives. In remote rural areas of northern China, many people still believe that it is a bad omen to have an unmarried boy go to the afterlife without any women around. This brings bad luck to the family of deceased men and his ghosts who will haunt the whole family. To avoid that, family members must find a ghost bride to marry the dead boy, bringing peace to the family.

Chinese people believe that ghost weddings will help their families settle down.(Photo: matrixleaks).

Ghost weddings have many different levels. The basic form is the clay or silver bride statues buried next to the dead male body. However, traditionally, the "best" ghost wedding must have the corpse of a real girl. The female body dug up from the burial grave, reinforced with clean clothes and rebuilt with the man. Because of this need, many mercenaries defied the law, morally stealing burial bodies.

Government regulations

The Chinese government has officially banned ghost wedding procedures in 1949. But with the country's wealth, this tradition continues to flourish. The northern provinces of China such as Shanxi, Ha Nam and Shaanxi occurred more than 30 cases of death row executions within the last 3 years. It all involves service of ghost weddings.

However, the government has allowed matchmaking companies to bridge the connection between families with deceased sons and daughters so that they can arrange marriage for the deceased. This is to compensate for the one-child policy in China for 30 years. Even so, matchmaking companies still fail to meet customers' needs.

The theft of the corpse

Fearful practices are the cause of the crime of stealing criminals.(Photo: weirdasianews).

High profits from new corpses averaging about $ 15,600 / bride ghost have made many people blurred. In 2011, a man arrested for murdering his wife sold the body to a ghost wedding. In 2014, four men were arrested for selling more than 10 bodies for nearly $ 40,000. Even the deceased corpses sold for about 760 USD. Meanwhile, the punishment for the theft of corpses is only 3 years in prison.

Because the government cannot stop the death row, Chinese families have come up with ways to protect their lost loved ones. Instead of burying them on distant slopes, they built graves right next to the house. Others are wrapped in concrete. Conditional families will build fences, install security cameras and hire security guards to patrol daily.