Poor rural men who cannot get a wife fork out cash to ‘actresses’ for fake nuptials in bid to secure cushy afterlife. Tradition has it that burial in a family’s ancestral grave ensures you will be ‘looked after’ in death. — SCMP
It looked just like an ordinary village wedding in northern China as an emcee gave a speech in front of dozens of relatives and friends on July 7.
“Let us celebrate the new couple who are holding their solemn wedding ceremony today, and wish them a lifetime of happiness,” the host said.
But the marriage between the “new couple” would only last for a day.
The magazine Phoenix Weekly reported that “one-day marriages” are trending in rural parts of Hebei province among single men who long to enter their ancestral grave after they die.
In some areas, superstition holds that men who are too poor to attract a wife – often disparagingly called guanggun or “bare branches” – cannot be buried in their family gravesite or enter the ancestral hall.
This could damage the family’s feng shui and curse them with generation upon generation of single men.
Many believe men who are allowed to enter the ancestral grave will be looked after by the family’s offspring and enjoy paper money and other objects they burn for them in the afterlife.
According to the report, one-day ceremonial marriages became popular in the area five or six years ago. They have become an alternative to the once prevailing ghost marriage, in which one or both parties are dead.
A matchmaker, surnamed Wu, who runs a business arranging one-day marriages, said she had several “professional brides” available.
She charges the men 3,600 yuan (US$500) to rent a bride and 1,000 yuan as her brokerage fee.
The “brides” attend the wedding ceremony and visit the man’s ancestral grave with him to let his ancestors know they are “married”.
She said most of the “brides” were nannies or masseuses who were not local, as many worried the business might harm their reputations.
The fake bride in the July 7 wedding, known as Tian, said she needed the money to support her husband and son. She makes a few thousand yuan a month as a massage parlour owner.
Tian said her family did not know about her part-time job as she tried to hide her identity by wearing heavy make-up and wigs during the weddings.
She began working for Wu in 2021 and, at age 48, is the matchmaker’s youngest “bride”.
The groom in the July 7 wedding, surnamed Song, called the one-day marriage “a deal” as he did not need to pay for a betrothal gift – usually priced around 100,000 yuan (US$14,000) in the province.
Wu said she was helping the fake grooms and brides, who were “poor people”.
“Nothing is real except for money,” she said.
On mainland social media, the one-day marriage has been compared to an extreme version of a girlfriend or boyfriend rental service, which has become popular among young people seeking to ease marriage pressure from their parents.
Some social online observers were shocked by the men’s obsession with entering the ancestral grave.
“First, I don’t understand the tradition that single people cannot enter the ancestral grave. Second, why care about entering it so much since you won’t be alive then?” one commenter said.
“I have seen those who cheat people many times, but cheating ghosts is something new,” said another.
“They say marriage is the grave of love. It’s true,” a third quipped. – South China Morning Post
