The Passing Over Marriage in Sub-urban China

Confucian principles taught the Chinese people many things about the highest way of life that they kept in practice regardless of how modern the world came to be. Such is the folk belief called Minghun, which shows the high value placed on marriage and the passing over in China, prompting parents of dead bachelors to find suitable, recently dead women and marry them as a real couple to ensure both their souls' contentment. The |belief rooted from strong beliefs that unmarried life is incorrect and that people continues to exist even after death. Thus, arranged marriages between dead people are done to take away the worries of the living that their beloved may be sorrowful.

As usual, the parents of the dead son, who is twelve years old or older, looks for the girl to suit through their network of family, friends, and even fixers. When they find the girl they deem right, the corpse, in exchange of money regarded as dowry, will be buried with their son just like married couples. Buying corpses in China is forbidden, so this kind of transaction is discreetly arranged between the families concerned, adhering to the Confucian family morals of dutifully satisfying a child's wants and needs even after he or she is lost to death.