Human Sacrifice in Chinese Ancestor Worship

The BBC news confirms that young women are being bought and sacrificed as ‘ghost brides’ for departed ancestors in China today.

Here Comes The Bride

Offering the dead body of a young woman on a grave in a ‘spirit marriage’ ceremony is not unusual in rural China. They believe the male ancestor who died without marrying, will take the woman as his wife in the spirit world. For this reason, relatives are willing to pay large sums to purchase the corpse of a recently deceased woman. They offer it in a ‘wedding ceremony’ over the grave of the ancestor, as his ‘spirit bride‘.

<< Ancestor Worship: A Chinese woman burning ‘Hell money’ in sacrifice to her ancestors. She believes they will use the money to buy their way out of Hell.

No Woman No Cry?

The custom is increasingly prevalent. China has a growing gender imbalance due to the State enforced ‘one child policy’. The resultant widespread abortion, and murder, of female babies has caused a shortage of nubile women in China, so more men are dying unmarried.

It is predicted that by 2020, there will be thirty million more Chinese men than available women of marriageable age. Greater numbers of men die as bachelors, and their relatives see this as a way of placating, and helping, them after they have died.

A fresh young female corpse is therefore a valuable commodity in modern China.

Worth More Dead than Alive

This ghoulish practice has also prompted a new form of crime. Touts visit impoverished rural farmers and persuade them to sell their live daughters to ‘work in the cities’. Instead of giving them work, the women are murdered and their fresh bodies sold for around $4000 as ‘spirit brides’. The touts make about $500 profit per corpse.

What Cultural Revolution?

Despite over sixty years of Communism, ancestor worship is widely practised by Chinese people. Offerings of food, ‘Hell money’, clothes, and even large paper mock-ups of Mercedes cars are burned in sacrifice to dead relatives. Chinese people view this as showing respect, and bringing blessing, and good fortune to their lives. They believe failure to honour ancestors invokes curses, and ill fortune.

Married to Demons

The word of God tells us that all such sacrifices are actually offered to demons:

But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

1 Co. 10:20 KJV

Satan tricks the gullible into wasting their livelihoods, literally burning money to demons.

This is the power of religion and superstition he holds them in thrall to.

Let’s tell them the truth, and set them free from this demonic bondage.

Chinese Love Story
English version