Bride Taped To A Telephone Pole On Her Wedding Day Elicits Outrage
Most people would not wake up in the morning expecting to be taped to a telephone pole later that day. But that’s exactly what happened to a woman on her wedding day.
On September 23, a video of several men taping a bride in China to a telephone pole went viral, eliciting horror and anger from netizens. In the video, the woman cried out for help and tried to break free, but not a single rescuer came to her aid.
It turns out that the men involved were not strangers but the groom’s childhood friends, and the woman was being taped to the pole as a form of “wedding hazing.” In much of the Western world, hazing is associated with frat houses and sports, but wedding hazing has a long history in China.
Known as hun nao, the pranking custom began centuries ago. The purpose? To use laughter to ward off evil spirits and ease the couple’s wedding jitters. Over time, the custom evolved, and now hun nao can take the form of vulgar jokes and games that cause distress and humiliation, or worse. One groom, for instance, was left disabled in 2016 after he had been tied up.
After the video of the bound bride circulated, Yang, a friend of the groom, told media outlet Fengmian News that both the bride and groom had agreed to the pole prank ahead of time. He also wanted people to know that the groom was present during the taping to make sure the bride was unharmed.
Making a bit of a scene at weddings is our local custom, all among good friends. There was no harm done.
— Yang
In response to online outrage, the local government issued a statement on September 24, promising to encourage its citizens to abandon such harmful traditions. The statement also included apologies from the men involved in the incident.
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