Wedding funeral. Eleven people were arrested in China on suspicion of having stolen and sold as a corpse for a "wedding ghost," reports an article ofThe South China Morning Post reports spotted by the BBC. They are accused of having exhumed the body of a woman from a village in the province of Shandong, and then sold on the black market.
The ritual of "the marriage ghosts" is to bury the corpse of a woman next to a young man who died before having had the opportunity to get married at a wedding ceremony. This would allow the soul of the deceased not to wander alone in the afterlife. The practice, which dates back to the 17th century, has become increasingly rare in modern China, and is limited to the rural areas.
Sold 5000 €
The main suspect, surnamed Wang explains that most of the bodies are fresh, they are sold dear. "They can be sold, usually between 16 000 and 20, 000 yuan (2000 and 2600 euros). A body buried for years no longer has value," he explains.
The body of the woman has been resold to a bereaved family in the neighboring province of Hebei for 38,000 yuan (5000 euros), specifies a local television.
In China, stealing of corpses is a criminal offence punishable by three years in prison
