Chinese wedding rite turns ugly as escaping bridegroom hit by car
- Friends strip and beat bridegroom Ai Guangtao, 24, in a wedding hazing ritual until he runs onto a highway to escape
- Ai was struck by a vehicle. He was later diagnosed with a skull fracture and bleeding inside the brain
A bridegroom in southern China has suffered multiple injuries after being hit by a car while escaping from a wedding hazing, a traditional – and notorious – rite in China that in many cases ends in violence.
Ai Guangtao, 24, his body covered with ink and wearing only his underwear, ran on to a highway near his home on his wedding day over the weekend to get away from his friends when the accident happened, according to the Guiyang Evening News.
Ai was on his way from his bride’s home to his own on Sunday when he was hit, according to his family.
As part of the wedding revelries, which are meant to create a fun, carnival atmosphere, Ai’s friends threw eggs at him, poured beer and ink on him, tied him up with plastic tape to an electric power pole and beat him with a strip of bamboo.
He escaped on to the highway to take a short cut home when he could no longer tolerate the treatment, his aunt Chen Xiaomin was quoted as saying.
“Just looking at it was painful. He was then forced into a dead corner beside the highway and had nowhere else to go,” Chen said.
