When I saw the headline — Yahoo! News – ‘Sorcerer’ Kills 10, Sells Bodies for Cremation — I must admit that I assumed it was another story out of Africa. But I was wrong:
Chinese police have detained a ‘sorcerer’ who killed 10 people and sold their bodies to bereaved families to cremate in the place of loved ones who were secretly buried, police and a state-run newspaper reported Thursday.The 34-year-old man, surnamed Lin, strangled or poisoned the 10 villagers at his home, next to a temple, in the southern province of Guangdong, the Beijing Morning Post said.
Chinese tradition, especially in rural villages, holds that burial brings peace to the dead and tombs are placed according to the laws of geomancy. But in a country of 1.3 billion people, the seemingly haphazard siting of graves wastes scarce farmland.
Since 1978, when China launched its reform drive, all levels of government have recommended cremation to save land.
‘This region cremates its dead, but local people prefer to be buried in the ground. People bought the bodies to be cremated in place of their relatives,’ a police official told Reuters Thursday.
Lin, whom the newspaper called a sorcerer locals consulted to communicate with spirits, sold the bodies for 1,000 to 8,000 yuan ($120 to $966) each, the newspaper quoted local police as saying.
If the common people are willing to have innocents murdered to get around government regulations, either (a) the common people are unusually depraved, or (b) the government regulations are a bit too restrictive. Or (c) a sorcerer’s involved.