In the Chinese province of Shanxi (in the central part of the country), a man was arrested on suspicion of killing two women. According to police, he cracked down on them in order to then sell their remains for "ghost weddings." This is a ritual that is performed for a deceased person who was not married - the family selects a "husband" or "wife" for him for the afterlife. Relatives fear that if this is not done, the spirit of the deceased will become angry and bring trouble to the whole family.
Such beliefs are common in China, contrary to the official ideology. This creates a demand for "ghost spouses". In fact, it provokes the sale of human remains (usually female) and even murder.
In the latter case, the killer dealt with the victims by injecting them with an increased dose of a sedative (both died from an overdose). He moved the body of one of them to another city and sold it for 35 thousand yuan - about $ 5 thousand. Later, he intended to sell the remains of another victim, but was arrested.
This has happened in the past. In the early 2010s, a woman was killed in Shanxi province. The killer sold her remains to a family looking for a "ghostly bride" for their deceased son. He was later caught, tried and sentenced to death.
Several years earlier, six women had been killed in Hebei province (in the east of the country) before the killer was arrested. During interrogations, he pleaded guilty. Initially, it was reported that he was going to steal the remains from the graves. However, then he decided to kill, because the organizers of "ghost weddings" paid more for recently deceased women.
Demand
Unofficial prices for human remains for "ghost weddings" have risen over the past few years. In the late 2000s, they were sold for 30-50 thousand yuan ($ 4.5-7.5 thousand). Now illegal traders receive 100 thousand (about $ 15 thousand) and even more.
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Recently it was reported that a family in Shanxi Province agreed to donate the remains of their deceased daughter for a "ghost wedding" with a certain deceased bachelor. The latter's parents paid them 180,000 yuan (about $ 27,000).
The demand for “ghost weddings” (the willingness of local residents to pay for them was associated with the region's income from coal mining) has led many to try to make money on it. Among them are mediums and all kinds of intermediaries who offer to find a suitable match for a deceased person.
Sometimes "ghost weddings" take place by agreement of the parties - families looking for a couple for deceased relatives. The authorities generally allow this. In one case, the mother of a deceased girl found a “ghostly groom” for her (recently deceased) and asked the local authorities to reburial his remains in the cemetery where her daughter was buried. Permission has been obtained.
However, in many other cases, the remains are sold by grave robbers. In one village in Shanxi province alone, 15 corpses have been stolen over the past three years. In the spring of 2016, it was reported that the police were investigating dozens of such cases.
The robbers do not even disdain skeletons (they are sold for several thousand yuan - less than $ 1,000). To protect the graves, some of the local residents hire guards, others install CCTV cameras in the cemeteries or move the graves closer to their homes.
Ritual
The ritual itself is a combination of a wedding and a funeral. It uses images of "bridegroom" and "bride" made of wood, paper and bamboo, and symbolic "gifts" from the same materials. All this is subsequently burned. The remains are buried nearby. If the family of the deceased cannot find a "bride" for him, she can bury the statuette, made of silver, with him, hoping that this will calm his spirit.
The ritual has been practiced for thousands of years. Now it is preserved in several provinces of the PRC.
Why do they do this? According to legends, the spirit of a person who dies out of wedlock will be unhappy and can bring a curse on their loved ones. If serious troubles occur in the family (for example, someone gets sick), superstitious people consider this a consequence of such a curse. Those who practice the ritual claim that the spirits of deceased relatives appear to them in a dream (or during a séance) and say what they need.
Another belief says that if the eldest son died in the family, it is imperative to find him a "ghostly bride", otherwise the youngest will not be able to marry. One of the stories described in an anthropological study claimed that when in one of the families a young man tried to neglect this superstition, he was allegedly possessed by the spirit of his deceased elder brother, who declared that "the family will not have peace" until a bride is found.
The strength of these beliefs is also associated with the traditionally great importance that in China is given to family and marriage. And also the role that parents play in the arrangement of the family life of their children. Parents, as anthropologist Diana Martin noted, consider it their duty to marry or give in marriage to their child - sometimes even after his death.
Mikhail Tishchenko
