The families of a Chinese couple who died in a car accident decided to find closure on their deaths by holding a “ghost marriage” in their honour.
Yang Jingshan, 31, an international referee for the Malaysia Dragon and Lion Dance Sports Association, was known for his work in service of the public.
His 32-year-old girlfriend, surnamed Li, worked at a food processing factory in Malaysia.
They had been in a relationship for three years, and Yang planned to propose to Li in Thailand in June, according to China Press, a Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper.
On May 24, the couple’s car overturned on a road in Perak in northwestern Malaysia and neither survived.
After the accident, their distraught families came up with a plan to hold a “ghost marriage”, which they saw as ensuring their loved ones would be united as husband and wife in the afterlife.
They also created wedding photos for the pair, according to Sin Chew Daily.
In China, the term “ghost marriage” usually refers to finding a partner for deceased individuals.
Traditional Chinese belief has it that if people die without fulfilling their wishes, such as getting married, they will not find peace in the afterlife and may return to haunt the living.
Generally, there are two types of ghost marriage.
One involves couples who died before engagement or after being engaged, and their heartbroken parents, out of love and longing, organise a wedding ceremony and bury them together.
The second type involves individuals who had no marriage contract while alive but are matched posthumously through a matchmaker.
This ghost marriage is much like a standard arranged marriage among the living.
The parents seek a suitable dead partner for their deceased offspring through a matchmaker, inquiring about the other family’s background, occupation, and age and requesting photos for compatibility.
Then a wedding is held, and the bodies are exhumed and buried together in a new grave.
“Influenced by Chinese culture, ghost marriages also exist in many East Asian countries such as North Korea and Japan,” Huang Jingchun, a Chinese folklore expert, told digital media outlet The Paper.
He said the practice helps meet the emotional needs of relatives who are missing their dead loved ones.
“Whether it is out of longing and compensation for the deceased or for their own interests, the ones who truly seek comfort and relief from anxiety are the living,” said Huang.
But there is a sinister side to the tradition.
Despite being banned by the Chinese government, the 3,000-year-old practice still exists in remote areas, particularly in northern China.
The dead bodies and ashes of many young women’s corpses have also become commodities bought and sold in ghost marriages.
In 2016, a man from Gansu province in northwest China murdered two women who were suffering from mental health conditions and sold their bodies for ghost marriages. He was sentenced to death in 2021.
In November 2021, the ashes of a female internet celebrity in eastern China’s Shandong province were stolen by funeral home staff and sold to a local family for such a marriage.
Such a crime could earn the culprit 50,000 to 70,000 yuan (US$7,000-US$10,000), according to The Beijing News.
The Chinese authorities have been making efforts to clamp down on such arrangements. Anyone who steals, rapes, or destroys a corpse can receive a prison term of up to three years.
