"Sorcerer" Kills 10 People - Sells Bodies For Cremation

[matcom]

<snip>

BEIJING (Reuters) - 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.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=2&u=/nm/20040826/od_nm/china_sorcerer_dc

[NewJeffCT]

1. Hmmm

Interesting - Guangdong province is not exactly a sparsely populated province, as it features the huge city of Guangzhou and borders Hong Kong.

They seem to like to poison people in China, though. In Nanjing a year or two back, a restauranteur poisoned his competitor's food and killed over 40 people.

[LastKnight]

2. people take this fantasy roleplaying stuff way too far sometimes...nt

:crazy:

[Misunderestimator]

3. OMG... I wonder if when they bought these bodies... they thought that...

they were already dead? Bad enough, but if not... this is just too horrifying for words.