Research on the Ghost Marriage Story Types in Chinese Traditional Literary Narratives

The practice of ghost marriage(冥婚) is a fusion of wedding and funeral rituals, where deceased individuals are first married by their families before being interred together. After the Song Dynasty, ghost marriages no longer exclusively involved the deceased but expanded to include one living and one deceased partner. Thus, a ghost marriage between two deceased individuals is considered a typical ghost marriage, while one between a living person and a deceased individual is an atypical ghost marriage. Traditional Chinese literary narratives abound with ghost marriage themes. Typical ghost marriage stories reflect the typical customs—where at least one party is deceased, and both must be buried together in a tomb. Such stories may involve a living person dying suddenly and being interred with the deceased, or a living person briefly sharing a tomb with the deceased before leaving—a literary expression of joint burial. Atypical ghost marriage stories, however, reflect atypical customs—where the deceased appears as a spirit to complete the marriage with a living person, without requiring the latter to enter another realm or be buried alongside them. The marital bond may be established through wedding ceremonies, familial approval, or even offspring. The evolution of ghost marriage stories shows a shift from typical to atypical narratives, manifesting in three ways: 1. The female spirits involved gradually moved from higher to lower social standing. 2. The emphasis shifted from ritualistic details to romantic relationships between humans and spirits. 3. The duties of the living toward the deceased gradually diminished. This transformation was influenced by changes in ghost marriage customs, shifts in societal ideology, and the development of literature itself.