Are ghost marriages fueling the demand for female corpses in rural China?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Math Is Hard
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers around the unusual practice of "ghost marriages" in rural China, where deceased unmarried men are paired with female corpses to ensure they share a grave, reflecting deep-rooted cultural beliefs. Participants express fascination and humor about this tradition, contrasting it with modern Western views on death and marriage. The conversation touches on historical practices, such as post-mortem photography, and the challenges of understanding cultural customs that seem unchangeable. Light-hearted banter about personal burial preferences, including humorous suggestions for posthumous contributions to a pizza fund, adds a playful tone to the serious topic. Overall, the thread highlights the complexities of cultural traditions and the varying perspectives on death and marriage across societies.
Math Is Hard
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
4,650
Reaction score
39
Aether posted this link in another thread. A grisly, but very interesting story:

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9558423

Parts of rural China are seeing a burgeoning market for female corpses, the result of the reappearance of a strange custom called “ghost marriages”. Chinese tradition demands that husbands and wives always share a grave. Sometimes, when a man died unmarried, his parents would procure the body of a woman, hold a “wedding” and bury the couple together.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Awesome. I want a pet dog and cat, and maybe some orphan kids too.

On second thought, better throw in some mistresses as well.
 
cyrusabdollahi said:
Awesome. I want a pet dog and cat, and maybe some orphan kids too.

On second thought, better throw in some mistresses as well.

:smile:
You forgot the servants, King Tut!
 
At least they have a lot in common and probably have few bad habits. I imagine they have a very low divorce rate.
 
Way to find that positive angle, Bob! :biggrin:
 
Oh, ghost, not goat!
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Oh, ghost, not goat!
:smile: :smile:
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Oh, ghost, not goat!

This ant afganistan!
 
Being a westerner that embraces change and new ideas, it's hard to understand how some cultures can have such unchangeable beliefs. The culture in various parts of China are very old and very isolated, and change is something that wasn't promoted.

I love the study of other cultures. But traditions like this are a bit bizarre now, but not uncommon a few thousand years ago.
 
  • #10
In the late 1800's people used to take photos of their dead loved ones at the funeral and hang it on their wall.

Your baby brother and sister are dead honey, now smile for the nice man.

http://www.deathonline.net/images/remembering/pm12.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • #11
Remember that movie The Others with the photo album of the pics of dead people propped up and posed? My mom said she had actually seen photo albums like that when she was a little girl. I thought it was something they had just made up for the movie.
 
  • #12
I remember going through the things of my dad's mother and there were tons of photos of dead people.
 
  • #13
Marriage and burial customs aren't scientific at all. Just say, no.
 
  • #14
Evo said:
Being a westerner that embraces change and new ideas, it's hard to understand how some cultures can have such unchangeable beliefs. The culture in various parts of China are very old and very isolated, and change is something that wasn't promoted.

I love the study of other cultures. But traditions like this are a bit bizarre now, but not uncommon a few thousand years ago.

I think loyal female PF members should donate their corpses to be sold in China after they croak for a general pizza fund.
 
  • #15
zoobyshoe said:
I think loyal female PF members should donate their corpses to be sold in China after they croak for a general pizza fund.
And who would be the benificiary of said pizza fund?

I still want to be eaten by Tibetan vultures.
 
  • #16
Evo said:
And who would be the benificiary of said pizza fund?

I still want to be eaten by Tibetan vultures.

Tibetan Vultures, isn't that a soccer team??:biggrin:
 
  • #17
edward said:
Tibetan Vultures, isn't that a soccer team??:biggrin:
Oh dear, that would make things much more complicated. :bugeye:
 
  • #18
Evo said:
Oh dear, that would make things much more complicated. :bugeye:

Not really. The only difference is that they would use utensils.
 
  • #19
Evo said:
And who would be the benificiary of said pizza fund?
Surviving male PF members.

I still want to be eaten by Tibetan vultures.
You're so selfish! We want pizza!
 
  • #20
Ivan Seeking said:
Not really. The only difference is that they would use utensils.

Or their tongues.
 
  • #21
Evo said:
I remember going through the things of my dad's mother and there were tons of photos of dead people.

Truly neat. :-p
 

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top