Are we supposed to take "'til death do us part" literally? Probably not, right? Apparently, in rural China, love after death is a big deal, since the village of Dongbao has reported at least 36 cases of grave robbery for the purpose of marrying one deceased bachelor to the corpse of someone else's bride.
These "ghost weddings" were quite common in China up until 1949, which is when the People's Republic banned them. But it seems that the custom has come back in full force in Dongbao. And why are people doing this? It's all to stop an ancient Chinese curse.
All over Dongbao, gravesites are starting to look like this. That's because grave diggers have now become matchmakers.
In Chinese tradition, it is bad luck for a man to die unmarried. It may even bring a curse upon his family.
So families are banking on "'til death do us part" to actually mean that death nullifies marriage. They are paying grave diggers a hefty price to dig up dead brides so that they can wed their dead, single relatives.
The robbers take pains to wire body parts from the female corpses back together so that they can fit in wedding gowns.
I haven't seen any pictures of these ghostly ceremonies (as they are still illegal in China), but let's hope that they don't force two poor family members to make the corpses kiss. Yikes.
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