Chinese police have arrested a corpse trader who killed six women so he could sell their bodies for superstitious "weddings of the dead". The Xinhua news agency said the man - only identified by the surname Song - was part of a network supplying "ghost brides" to families seeking afterlife spouses for their dead sons.
Arranged marriages for the dead are an ancient tradition in parts of China. Although the custom declined after the communists took power in 1949, it is said to have made a comeback in rural areas.
In an interview, Mr Song, from Linzhang county in Hebei province, said he started selling bodies in 1998. His initial attempt at grave-robbing failed when he was caught by police and jailed for two years.
Starting last year, he allegedly lured four women with learning difficulties to remote areas on his bicycle, then strangled them. He allegedly found the two other victims by recruiting them as housekeepers. "Killing people and selling their bodies was easier than stealing bodies from graves," he was quoted as saying.
He allegedly sold the bodies to middlemen in Henan and Hebei, claiming the victims had succumbed to illness and been abandoned by their families. Each corpse earned him £200 to £265.
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