SCMP: China’s ‘ghost marriages’ see dead dug up for macabre marriages despite government crackdowns

[Hamartia Antidote]

Why are China’s dead dug up for macabre ‘ghost marriages’?

The practice of ‘ghost marriages’ where two dead people are married to each other in a bizarre wedding ceremony dates back to ancient times in China and is designed to ensure unmarried men who die are fulfilled in the afterlife and do not return to haunt people.

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“Ghost marriages” remain common in China despite repeated attempts to stamp out the practice. Photo: Getty

This week, the theft of a woman’s ashes shocked China. The woman, a live-streamer from Shandong province, eastern China, had taken her own life last month. After she was cremated her ashes were stolen by funeral home staff to sell to a local family, to be “wed” and buried with their dead son.

The local police detained three funeral home workers allegedly involved and vowed to crack down on ghost marriages and said it will launch inspections of all funeral facilities.

Even though the case is coming to a close, it has revealed that a notorious superstition in China is still alive and kicking, despite an ongoing government crackdown.

‘Ghost marriages’: origins and black market trade
The purpose of a “ghost marriage” is to find a partner for a deceased person. Some elderly Chinese still believe that if people die without fulfilling their wishes such as getting married, they will not rest peacefully and will return to haunt others.

The practice was banned as far back as imperial times, but many people continued the practice in secrecy, surviving records show. When unmarried men or women died, their parents would hire a matchmaker to help them “marry” suitable corpses and bury them together.

In modern times, the practice was banned again by the incoming Chinese Communist government in 1949, but continues to persist in remote villages, especially in northern China.

The rituals involved in a “ghost marriage” are much like those of a standard arranged marriage for the living. The parents seek a suitable match for their children through a matchmaker or by word of mouth. Then they ask about the other family, the potential spouse’s occupation, age, and ask to see a photo to make sure it’s a match.

Then, they host a wedding ceremony, dig up the corpses, and bury the two bodies together in a new grave.

The price of a female body is usually determined by a range of factors, including age, how “fresh” the body is, how complete the remains are, physical appearance and family background, according to the China News Weekly. Price calculations can vary widely but for example, women who died of an illness tend to cost more than those who died in a traffic accident.

Past cases, government crackdowns
It’s often difficult for parents to find a match who died close to the time their own child did, so gradually matchmaking business catering to “ghost marriages” sprang up.

A whole industry has sprung up to support ghost marriages in China. Photo: Getty

One matchmaker with 30 years experience told the China News Weekly that the market has flourished over the years. In the 1990s a match would cost around 5,000 yuan, and in the 2000s it grew to 50,000 yuan. By 2010, 100,000 yuan would only ensure a basic match, and by 2016, you “couldn’t even buy a bone” for less than 150,000 yuan (US$23,469), the matchmaker said.

Gradually, theft and even murder developed to serve growing demand for “ghost marriages”. Families kept an eye on hospitals and funeral homes and struck deals with staff, handing over money in return for fresh corpses.

China News Weekly reported that from 2013 to 2016, 27 female corpses were dug up and stolen from their graves at just one small town in Shanxi province, central China.

In the face of high profit, some have turned to the living to find potential spouses.


A court document from Gansu province in northwest China shows that a man murdered two mentally ill women and sold their bodies for ghost marriages. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death earlier this year.

China has been making efforts to clamp down on such incidents. According to the country’s Criminal Law, anyone who steals, rapes or damages a corpse can be sentenced to up to three years in prison. Local governments have also issued warning notices and launched crackdowns.

But China’s legal experts have argued it’s not enough to just tighten restrictions on the seller, and called for more action against matchmakers and buyers.

 

[casual]

Dumb superstitions will die out as young people get more educated and older generation perish.

 

[MH.Yang]

This is indeed a bad habit in the rural areas of some provinces in Northwest China. It takes time, a long time to solve this problem.

 

[MH.Yang]

Dumb superstitions will die out as young people get more educated and older generation perish.

It's not that simple, we have been fighting this kind of behavior for hundreds of years, but we still haven't completely eradicated it.
This behavior is not just superstition, it is based on Chinese traditional culture. Chinese people attach importance to family members, even dead family members. Chinese people believe in the balance of yin and yang, they believe that life without a spouse is incomplete.

 

[mazeto]

It's not that simple, we have been fighting this kind of behavior for hundreds of years, but we still haven't completely eradicated it.
This behavior is not just superstition, it is based on Chinese traditional culture. Chinese people attach importance to family members, even dead family members. Chinese people believe in the balance of yin and yang, they believe that life without a spouse is incomplete.

Chinese culture is really different from all other cultures in that, other cultures seem to fear the dead.. in that they go to great lengths to dissociate themselves from the dead, or dissuade the dead from interacting with them. Whereas the Chinese actually remember their dead( ie ancestors) on a near daily basis, even clean their grave and give offerings. And now this.
This psychology may explain the tenacity of the Chinese civilization when all its contemporaries have died out. This also probably predicts that Western sicknesses like LGBT, individualism and demographic extinction will never be a Chinese mainstream phenomenon going forward.
Nevertheless, this practice should be allowed to just matchmake on paper..fix the fees to a minimum,physical items like corpses, ash or accoutrements should be stamped out with malice. But let the pruned practice remain, it's beautiful in it's meaning.

 

[MH.Yang]

Chinese culture is really different from all other cultures in that, other cultures seem to fear the dead.. in that they go to great lengths to dissociate themselves from the dead, or dissuade the dead from interacting with them. Whereas the Chinese actually remember their dead( ie ancestors) on a near daily basis, even clean their grave and give offerings. And now this.
This psychology may explain the tenacity of the Chinese civilization when all its contemporaries have died out. This also probably predicts that Western sicknesses like LGBT, individualism and demographic extinction will never be a Chinese mainstream phenomenon going forward.
Nevertheless, this practice should be allowed to just matchmake on paper..fix the fees to a minimum,physical items like corpses, ash or accoutrements should be stamped out with malice. But let the pruned practice remain, it's beautiful in it's meaning.

Every civilization has its bright side and its dark side, and so does the Chinese civilization. Ghost marriage is only a part of the dark side of Chinese civilization, not all, we still have more dirty and mistakes to be corrected.
Chinese civilization is indeed tenacious, perhaps it is the only ancient civilization that has survived, but that doesn't mean it's better than other civilizations. One day, Chinese civilization will perish, we are a part of human civilization, and any river will eventually fall into the embrace of the ocean.
Chinese people do respect their ancestors, but if you carefully analyze the ancestors worshipped by Chinese people, you will find that they are actually the personalization of the whole Chinese nation.
For example, Pangu. In ancient Chinese legends, the world was originally a particularly hot and tight egg. Pangu detonated the egg with a divine axe, after the egg exploded and spread, the world was formed. The Chinese believe that Pangu is one of their ancestors, Pangu is worshipped because of the creation of the world.
For example, Nu Wa, she is the mother of Chinese people. In ancient Chinese legend, the world was destroyed by fire and rain in the starry sky. Nu Wa came from the divine world in the starry sky. She repaired the damaged starry sky with the power of the divine world. She also used the clay of the divine world to create the Chinese people according to her appearance. Nuwa was worshipped for mending the world and creating human beings.
For example, Emperor Yan was worshipped for tasting all plants to creating medicine, and farming.
For example, Fu Xi was worshipped for teaching Chinese people to use fire and words.
In fact, all the worshipped ancestors in China are personification of the behavior and achievement of the whole nation. The ancestors worshipped by the Chinese people usually contribute to the whole nation and have nothing to do with the war.
In addition, please note that the Chinese worship their ancestors, they are not gods, they are human. And They are different from the gods of Greece or northern Europe, there is no messy sexual relationship between them.

 

[casual]

It's not that simple, we have been fighting this kind of behavior for hundreds of years, but we still haven't completely eradicated it.
This behavior is not just superstition, it is based on Chinese traditional culture. Chinese people attach importance to family members, even dead family members. Chinese people believe in the balance of yin and yang, they believe that life without a spouse is incomplete.

like I said, young people don't care about that crap. These dumb superstitions will die out.

 

[MH.Yang]

like I said, young people don't care about that crap. These dumb superstitions will die out.

I hope it goes as well as you said. In fact, I'm not optimistic. Our young people are more enthusiastic about traditional culture than the old. Because they were born after the 1990s, they have not seen China of the embarrassing period, and they have cultural self-confidence beyond reality.

 

[mazeto]

Every civilization has its bright side and its dark side, and so does the Chinese civilization. Ghost marriage is only a part of the dark side of Chinese civilization, not all, we still have more dirty and mistakes to be corrected.
Chinese civilization is indeed tenacious, perhaps it is the only ancient civilization that has survived, but that doesn't mean it's better than other civilizations. One day, Chinese civilization will perish, we are a part of human civilization, and any river will eventually fall into the embrace of the ocean.
Chinese people do respect their ancestors, but if you carefully analyze the ancestors worshipped by Chinese people, you will find that they are actually the personalization of the whole Chinese nation.
For example, Pangu. In ancient Chinese legends, the world was originally a particularly hot and tight egg. Pangu detonated the egg with a divine axe, after the egg exploded and spread, the world was formed. The Chinese believe that Pangu is one of their ancestors, Pangu is worshipped because of the creation of the world.
For example, Nu Wa, she is the mother of Chinese people. In ancient Chinese legend, the world was destroyed by fire and rain in the starry sky. Nu Wa came from the divine world in the starry sky. She repaired the damaged starry sky with the power of the divine world. She also used the clay of the divine world to create the Chinese people according to her appearance. Nuwa was worshipped for mending the world and creating human beings.
For example, Emperor Yan was worshipped for tasting all plants to creating medicine, and farming.
For example, Fu Xi was worshipped for teaching Chinese people to use fire and words.
In fact, all the worshipped ancestors in China are personification of the behavior and achievement of the whole nation. The ancestors worshipped by the Chinese people usually contribute to the whole nation and have nothing to do with the war.
In addition, please note that the Chinese worship their ancestors, they are not gods, they are human. And They are different from the gods of Greece or northern Europe, there is no messy sexual relationship between them.

Very informative reply. Thanks .
Can you please tell the story of how mankind got the rice seeds from a certain God after a flood or famine?

 

[MH.Yang]

Very informative reply. Thanks .
Can you please tell the story of how mankind got the rice seeds from a certain God after a flood or famine?

There is no God in Chinese legend. But there are divine world and immortal people in the starry sky. The immortal people are not gods, they are human beings. Human beings improve themselves through accumulated knowledge and contribute become immortal people.
There are also floods in ancient Chinese legends, but the Chinese did not escape with boat. Under the leadership of Yu, the Chinese managed the flood by dredging the river.
In ancient Chinese legends, the Chinese did not get seeds from God. Because of the population growth of ancient Chinese tribes, hunting and picking could not meet the needs of tribes. Emperor Yan tasted all plants and invented herbs and grain seeds.

 

[obj 705A]

Is it really a bad thing though if the parents of the two being married consent to it?
As long as these kind of marriages are not official and don't interfere with things such as inheritance then I think there is nothing wrong with it, sure personally I find it weird but if this practice survived even when it was banned during imperial times then may be it's a cultural thing which doesn't harm any one.

 

[mazeto]

Is it really a bad thing though if the parents of the two being married consent to it?
As long as these kind of marriages are not official and don't interfere with things such as inheritance then I think there is nothing wrong with it, sure personally I find it weird but if this practice survived even when it was banned during imperial times then may be it's a cultural thing which doesn't harm any one.

Exactly my thoughts. In fact it proves that relatives care for you even after death. How beautiful.
For the same reason I find nothing wrong with that Indonesian tribe that clean their dead every year. These practices are "macabre" only if you fear the dead.

 

[VFY]

Ghost marriages? American military trannies and faggots are getting ready to die to defend gay marriage in Taiwan

 

[Leishangthem]

Chinese culture is really different from all other cultures in that, other cultures seem to fear the dead.. in that they go to great lengths to dissociate themselves from the dead, or dissuade the dead from interacting with them. Whereas the Chinese actually remember their dead( ie ancestors) on a near daily basis, even clean their grave and give offerings. And now this.
This psychology may explain the tenacity of the Chinese civilization when all its contemporaries have died out. This also probably predicts that Western sicknesses like LGBT, individualism and demographic extinction will never be a Chinese mainstream phenomenon going forward.
Nevertheless, this practice should be allowed to just matchmake on paper..fix the fees to a minimum,physical items like corpses, ash or accoutrements should be stamped out with malice. But let the pruned practice remain, it's beautiful in it's meaning.

Ancestor worship isn't unique to China,it's present in other parts of asia. Meitei people of Manipur has space for in their home for their ancestor ,and in September performs a ritual "A-pokpa shinyen".
I don't believe in major gods, but I can't deny the divine thread binding humans togetherand actions shaping outcomes ,each and everything is tied to the balancing act of nature based on everything , in that context, to me, the concept of ancestor veneration makes more sense,human spirit is a form of energy ,it makes more sense to venerate a energy(spirit/chi) that resides in all medium such as human body ,than worshipping idols.

 

[Song Hong]

It is now become more of a tradition that dead bodies are raped. More and more news report on this in white man land.


**********

UK David Fuller sexually attacked at least 100 dead bodies in the mortuaries of Kent and Sussex and Tunbridge Wells hospitals.

Morgue rapist David Fuller received £46,000 of legal aid

David Fuller, 67, admitted murdering two women in 1987, and sexually abusing scores of females corpses, including children, in mortuaries in Kent and Sussex.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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In another development in the macabre murder, rape and death penalty case of convicted killer David Steffen, a former Hamilton County, Ohio morgue worker admitted to engaging in sex with around 100 female corpses.

Death Penalty Case Reveals Morgue Worker Had Sex with 100 Female Corpses | Prison Legal News

www.prisonlegalnews.org