BEIJING (SCMP): A man in China was told by his fiancée that he needed to burn the “marriage bed” of her and her ex-husband so that they could get married, but it turned out to be a scam.
The man from northern China’s Tianjin municipality, surnamed Wang, met his girlfriend surnamed Li on an online dating platform.
Li said she was single and beautiful, and owned multiple properties and a jewellery store.
They began dating after meeting in person.
Wang was convinced of Li’s wealth after she offered him some gifts and shared photos of her properties on social media.
As they were about to tie the knot, Li requested Wang to perform the “marriage bed burning” ritual for her ex-husband, who died a few years ago from illness.
Wang was told all Li’s properties were inherited from her ex, and the ritual would be a “thank you gesture” for him, the mainland media outlet Hongxing News reported on Oct 31.
She told Wang he needed to spend 100,000 yuan (US$14,000) on the ritual to show his sincerity.
She required Wang to transfer her the money without showing up at the ritual, because it would bring bad luck to him.
Li sent Wang a few video clips of the “ritual”, before blocking his chat app account and vanishing.
Wang realised he was scammed and called the police.
It transpired that Li had used the same trick to scam 30,000 yuan (US$42,000) out of another man. All her properties were fake.
The Heping district court in Tianjin ruled that Li had committed fraud and sentenced her to 42 months in jail plus a fine.
Despite the “burning marriage bed” ritual turning out to be a scam, there had been some widely practised superstitious marriage rituals related to the marriage bed, which refers to the newlyweds’ new bed, in China.
It is a taboo for anyone, including the newlyweds, to use the bed before their wedding day, or it may bring bad luck to their marriage.
However, some families still carry out the outdated ritual of letting young boys roll over on the marriage bed so that the new couple would give birth to boys.
It is increasingly frowned upon as more young people advocate gender equality.
In 2023, the police discovered a scamming group in northwestern China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region, which conned almost 1.5 million yuan (US$209,000) out of five men from other provinces who were desperate to get married.
They hired women to marry the men for a bride price, and ran away from their home shortly after the wedding.
“It is true that love makes people blind, so blind that he fell for such an obvious scam,” one online observer said. - South China Morning Post
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
