Theft of female corpses on rise in some rural areas

Corpse theft is on the rise in rural Shanxi province as the old custom of "ghost marriage" has resurfaced in the northern province.

Hongtong county has reported at least three dozen thefts of female corpses in the last three years, said Lin Xu, deputy director of the county police department. Several thefts were reported in February and March last year.

In ghost marriage rituals, female skeletons are reinforced with steel wires and clothed before they are buried as "brides" alongside dead bachelors. Rural folk beliefs hold that failure to find a burial partner for an unmarried male relative is bad luck.