Philobiblon

From The Times, women being murdered in China to be “ghost brides” for dead peasant men.

The men preyed on the superstitions of ill-educated farmers eager to ensure that a dead son was happy in the afterlife. It is not uncommon in rural parts of China for a family to seek out the body of a woman who has died to be buried alongside their son after the performance of a marriage ceremony for the deceased pair.

I’ve never been a great believer in claims about the “good old days”, and romantic visions of peasants as close to the land. This sort of thing only helps to confirm that view.