Chinese wedding guest knocked unconscious as ‘hazing’ game goes terribly wrong
Friend of bride says she remembers little of the event except the feeling of hands closing around her windpipe
A wedding guest in northwestern China ended up in hospital on Saturday after being knocked unconscious during a traditional ritual in which the friends of the bride have to stop the groom and his men from getting into her room, according to a local media report.
“I remember someone grabbing my neck and hair, and I just fell on the ground,” the woman, who was identified only by her surname Niu, was quoted as saying by news portal Cnwest.com.
“I don’t know exactly what happened.”
Niu is related to the bride and was attending the wedding in Xian, capital of Shaanxi province.
She and a group of other women had been standing guard at the door to the bride’s room when the groomsmen arrived and tried to force their way inside, as is the tradition in Chinese wedding ceremonies, according to the report.
Niu’s younger sister was quoted as saying that she saw two men grab her sibling by the neck and throw her to the ground.
After seeing she had lost consciousness, Niu’s friends took her to hospital. She woke up sometime later, and after a little rest was given the all-clear to go home, the report said.
“Adults should be able to control their behaviour on such occasions,” Niu said in reference to the manhandling she received from the overzealous groomsmen.
“We should put an end to the bad [wedding] customs and only preserve the good ones.”
Traditional Chinese marriage rituals have been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently, prompting some people to call for them to be abolished. While they have their roots in ancient superstitions, modern variants are mostly intended as a bit of fun but can sometimes get out of hand.
At the end of last month, a video circulated on social media of a middle-aged man appearing to forcibly kiss his new daughter-in-law at her wedding triggered widespread condemnation.
Similarly, in November, three bridesmaids at a wedding in the southern city of Shenzhen suffered cuts to their faces after a groomsman tried to break down a door with a sledgehammer, sending shards of glass flying.
