Xiao Chen had never been married during his lifetime. He was still single at the age of 53. Unfortunately, after he died in a car accident, according to local customs, he could not be buried in his ancestral graves unless he was married to a "ghost wife", that is, a "shadow marri

"Yin matchmaking marriage" traces its history

· It originated from a folk custom before the Western Han Dynasty , and has been revived in northern rural areas in recent years.

The story takes place in Nanzhuang Village, Jize County, Handan, Hebei Province. November 14 of the lunar calendar in 2006 was an important day for Lao Chen’s family. His third son, Xiao Chen, was buried - together with his "ghost wife".

Xiao Chen had never been married during his lifetime. He was still single at the age of 53. Unfortunately, after he died in a car accident, according to local customs, he could not be buried in the ancestral grave unless he was married to a "ghost wife", that is, a "shadow marriage."

Yin marriage is not uncommon locally and can be traced back to China a long time ago.

"Zhou Rites" records that at least before the Western Han Dynasty, the custom of ghost marriage existed. The earliest recorded case in history is Cao Chong, the son of Cao Cao, the hero of the troubled times, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Yes, it’s the Cao Chong who says “ is like ”.

Cao Chong was very smart and was loved by Cao Cao. He once wanted to make him his heir. However, it is a pity that genius is short-lived. Cao Chong died when he was only 13 years old. Cao Cao was very sad.

He didn't want his son to be alone under Jiuquan, so he came up with the idea of ​​​​matching him in a shady marriage. In the end, he buried the deceased daughter of Zhen family together with Cao Chong, which was regarded as fulfilling his wish.

In the following dynasties and dynasties, this custom has been very prosperous. It can be seen in various historical records, such as " Yesterday's Dream Record " in the Song Dynasty, "Shu Yuan Miscellaneous Notes" in the Ming Dynasty, and "Qing Barnyard Notes" in the Qing Dynasty. "wait.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the custom of marriage on the underworld disappeared for a time. However, starting from the beginning of the 20th century, it revived in the rural areas of Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places in the north.

The "ghost wife" she bought was actually killed alive

· The old couple were shocked. - The "ghost wife" was dragged into a serious case of "killing 6 people in a row and selling their bodies to marry in secret" case.

Let’s continue the story at the beginning.

Lao Chen and his wife did not expect that their son would marry a "ghost wife" just 13 days after leaving. They were very happy, even though they spent 14,000 yuan (which is definitely a lot of money for ordinary farmers). Where did the "ghost wife"

come from? She was sold to the Chen family by villagers surnamed Liang and his wife from another county, and the broker was Lao Chen's nephew. The price of this "ghost wife" is so high because she is "wet goods".

In the yin marriage market, there are two special terms: "dry goods" and "wet goods". The former died a long time ago, while the latter died not long ago.

The Chen family would rather spend more money than wrong their son with "dry goods". So the couple surnamed Liang found "wet goods" for them through "ghost matchmaker" Li.

On the day of the burial of Lao Chen

, the old man who married a "ghost wife" for his son, the old couple felt extremely desolate. The white-haired man gave away the black-haired man. This is the saddest thing in the world. But what gave them some comfort was that their son finally "married" a "daughter-in-law." After the death of Mr. and Mrs. Chen, the son and his wife could move to their ancestral graves and the family would be reunited.

However, such peaceful days did not last long.

At the end of the first lunar month of 2007, the police suddenly arrived. This frightened the old and Chen couple who had worked hard all their lives. And what happened next shocked the two old men's jaws.

The police dug up the grave of the third child of the Chen family and left several scratches on his "ghost wife".

The reason is that this "ghost wife" was involved in a major case of "killing 6 people in a row and selling their bodies to arrange a secret marriage." They came to investigate the autopsy.

Lao Chen was stunned at the time. He never imagined that the "supply source" introduced to him by his nephew would have such a big problem.

He had heard before that there would be people robbing graves, digging up corpses and selling them, but he didn't expect that he would be involved in a bigger problem, and it would actually be related to the murder case!

Why would a farmer kill someone?

·At first he only stole corpses, but after the cremation trend began, he turned his attention to living people.

The "ghost wife" of the third child of the Chen family is the fourth victim in the murder case.The murderer was Song, a farmer from a village in Linzhang County, China.

According to villagers, Song is a man who lives a very useless life. He has a younger brother who is honest and diligent, completely different from his idleness.

He was once married, but later his wife couldn't bear it and divorced him, and the children also cut off contact with him.

As a result, he became even more unbridled, reselling livestock, abducting and trafficking women... His actions increasingly exceeded the legal red line, and later he even started a business of selling "ghost wives". The business of

has a huge chain of interests.

provides "ghost wives" to grave diggers, rental operators of funeral drums, funeral sheds and other facilities, owners of coffin shops and shroud shops, and managers of hospital morgues. Because of the convenience of their profession, they have the most information. Source;

In addition, there are amateurs like Song who steal female corpses by robbing tombs.

Then they will sell the corpse through a "ghost matchmaker", obtain profits from it, and divide the spoils.

After Song tasted the benefits of stealing corpses, he began to enjoy it endlessly. I usually look around to see if there are any newly buried women, but at night I secretly carry tools and dig graves.

Afterwards, one of his neighbors revealed to the media: Sometimes when I see Song riding a bicycle and carrying a bulging woven bag, I know that he is selling "ghost wives" again. "He can carry up to three at a time." .

If you walk too much at night, you will always encounter ghosts.

In 1999, while digging a grave, Song accidentally lost his phone book at the scene, and was caught by the victim. He was later convicted of "insulting a corpse" and imprisoned for two years. Five years after

was released from prison, cremation began in the local countryside, and the theft of corpses was blocked.

Song remarried at that time to a fierce woman, and the two moved to Anyang, Henan.

Perhaps due to the pressure from his wife, Song was eager to make money and wanted to return to his old business, so he turned his attention to living people and began to head towards the point of no return.

Killed 6 women in a row

·After killing 4 mentally ill people, his butcher knife pointed at normal people.

In March 2016 of the lunar calendar, Song committed murder for the first time. The woman who was killed was a mentally ill person. Using "food to eat" as bait, Song took the woman to the woods near the village on a bicycle and strangled her to death.

After that, he used similar techniques to kill three more people, all of whom were mentally ill. He expected that their families would not come looking, and that was exactly what happened.

The old Chen family was miserable. They never dreamed that the "ghost wife" they bought for a lot of money turned out to be a mental patient. They feel even more sad for their poor third child.

Song was arrested because he became increasingly bold and killed two normal people in a row in December.

The method he adopted this time was to go to a job search agency, and in the name of "raising dogs", he defrauded two women who were looking for jobs, brutally murdered them, and sold them into secret marriages.

He was caught by the woman’s family after killing the second person.

The victim, whose surname is Wang, is 42 years old. He remarried after her husband died. Later, she ran away in anger due to a quarrel with her second husband and went to a job search agency to find a job. Later, he was taken away and killed by Song.

The victim's husband and children went to Anyang to look for her. They found the home address left by Song at the agency, and followed the address to a village in Linzhang County, but found that the place had long been deserted.

went to the local police station and found that Song had not even applied for an ID card. Fortunately, Song and his fierce wife were arrested and interrogated for committing a crime before, and his wife was photographed at that time.

Relatives of the victim finally found Song with the help of this photo. The murderer of

was arrested, and the six victims can finally rest in peace.

After repeated interrogations, Song, who had a bad record, committed his own murder. Sadly, the lives lost can never be resurrected.

In fact, Song did not make a fortune from selling "ghost wives". Over the years, he owed a lot of debt, and all the money from selling the corpses was used to pay off the debt. The family was still impoverished and had nothing of value.Usually he is beaten and scolded by his wife at every turn. The six people

killed were sold for less than 20,000 yuan. But for the money, he paid a heavy price.

is extremely vicious, ignorant and hopeless.

Other similar cases

·Once the devil in his heart takes over, a gentle gentleman will also pick up the butcher's knife, let alone the sinister criminal in his heart.

Marx has long pointed out in " Capital ": "For 100% profit, capital dares to trample all human laws; with 300% profit, capital dares to commit any crime, and even risk hanging." "

This is not an exaggeration to say about these criminals.

Tens of thousands of yuan may not be much to some people, but for farmers who make a living by farming and selling vegetables, it is already a huge profit.

So human nature is generally similar. Once the demon of desire in his heart takes over, a gentle gentleman will also take up the butcher's knife, not to mention the sinister criminal in his heart.

Going back to the old Chen family, I can only admit that I am unlucky. Originally, I wanted to find a companion for my son who was underground, but I didn’t expect that the money I paid would buy a disaster. My son’s grave was dug up again because of the investigation. What an unlucky thing! This incident made Lao Chen and his wife regretful.

Handan The case of farmers killing 6 people in a row and selling their corpses for marriage is not an isolated case. There are many similar cases in the vast rural areas.

In 2006, three people including Yang from Shaanxi jointly committed a crime. They murdered two women and transported them to Linfen to be married in secret for profit. This case also involves multiple cases of digging up graves, robbing corpses, reselling them, and marrying them in secret, in which the caretaker of the morgue of a people's hospital in a county in Shaanxi was involved.

On May 22, 2011, Yan'an Wang and three other people failed to steal a motorcycle in Ganguyi Town, Baota District, and then deliberately killed someone and sold the body to someone else's deceased son for a "shadow marriage."

The most egregious thing is that the victim is still pregnant. After the three people sold the body, they were able to share the proceeds of 22,000 yuan.

...

Just imagine, there are so many cases of murder and corpse selling, let alone those who rob tombs and sell corpses.

There is only one reason for them to do this, and the benefits are huge.

It is understood that for a young female corpse that has just been buried, the male parents can pay up to 70,000 yuan, and

those with complete identity and household registration procedures, young people, and good appearance during life can pay even more. On the contrary, if the corpse has been rotten and deformed, or has been buried for many years, the amount can be higher. The price is lower, some are only about 10,000 yuan.

If it is a secret marriage that has been agreed upon with the woman's parents, they will also be given financial gifts. Therefore, many profit-minded people choose to steal corpses to make greater profits.

However, with the popularity of cremation, it has become more and more difficult to steal corpses. The most vicious people like Song went directly to kill the living people.

Why does “yin marriage” always exist?

First of all, is a folk custom with a long history (accurately, it should be a bad habit).

As mentioned above, it originated before the Western Han Dynasty at least and has a history of more than 2,000 years. It has been rooted deep in our national culture and it is impossible to remove it all at once.

Chinese people have always valued "reunion" and "human relations", both during life and after death. For those who were not married during their lifetime, their families hope to find a companion for them after their death so that they will not be alone underground. At the same time, their bones can also be moved back to their ancestral graves so that the whole family can be reunited a hundred years later. Together.

This is the psychology of the Chinese people.

Although times are progressing and more and more people are more willing to believe in science, there are still some people who lack culture or live in remote rural areas who inherit and believe in the things left by their ancestors, whether they are the essence or the dross. .

Secondly, has legal blind spots.

Article 302 of " Criminal Law ", whoever steals or insults a corpse shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years, , criminal detention or surveillance.

Participants in the buying and selling process have no relevant legal support to sanction them.

Therefore, only murder and corpse theft will be sentenced. If the man and woman have agreed with their families or bought a corpse that died normally through a "ghost matchmaker" to match the ghost marriage, they cannot be punished.

Due to various reasons, Yin-matching marriage has existed in our society for a long time and has not completely disappeared.

In fact, this bad habit with strong feudal superstition should be abandoned. People should pay more attention to the people who are alive in the world instead of making a fuss after his death.

This bad habit has no benefits. Not only does it cost money, but it will also be used by those with ulterior motives and profit-seeking intentions to commit evil acts such as murder and body theft.

Therefore, in today's society, we should vigorously strengthen the publicity and education of "advocating science, breaking superstition, and changing customs", especially in rural areas.

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