Ghost wedding: 3 steal corpse to sell as bride

Police in northern China have detained three people suspected of stealing a corpse to sell as a bride in the ancient Chinese rite of ghost weddings, which join single people who died for a belated marriage in the afterlife.

The official Xinhua News Agency says the main suspect had heard about the death of a young woman in a nearby village in Shanxi province and thought of selling the corpse to relatives of a single dead man.  Xinhua cited police in Ruicheng county, where calls rang unanswered Friday.

Xinhua said the three suspects pretended to be relatives of the woman and negotiated a sale price of 25,000 yuan ($4,000) with a buyer. But while raiding a tomb for the body last Saturday, they were caught by villagers.

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