People who pick up bodies on the Yellow River must know about horoscopes, five elements and adhere to taboos such as not trying to pick up a body more than 3 times, not picking up a body vertically…
The Yellow River in ancient China once gave birth to many lives, but also swallowed countless. Under this large river, many people have died, including someone who accidentally slipped and fell, someone was murdered and then thrown into the river, in addition, there were also many people who committed suicide, threw themselves into the river. this cold.
According to incomplete statistics, since 1960, more than 10,000 people have died on the Yellow River near Lanzhou, Gansu Province (China). In recent years, people have occasionally heard news of corpses in the Yellow River.
It can be said that over the past decades, corpses on the Yellow River have been countless, the fates of the dead are also different, some people fell to the bottom of the river and disappeared without a trace because they were submerged by river sand. Humans float on water and are discovered after only a few days. And the people who discovered it were the people who picked up the body on the Yellow River .
. Under this great river, many people have lost their lives.
The person who picks up the body on the Yellow River is also known as “Thuy Devil” , is an ancient profession. They are a group of people who walk the boundary between life and death. They are also considered to be those who connect the two worlds of yin and yang.
In fact, the profession of picking up corpses on the Yellow River is a profession that really exists to this day. Due to the traditional concept of the Chinese people “for the sake of the son is the end” , they believe that when people die, they must return to their motherland and rest in peace.
And those who pick up bodies on the Yellow River are responsible for picking up bodies for the relatives of the dead and exchanging them for wages. However, this profession has become the focus of controversy when using the deceased to profit, especially some people even bargain with the family of the deceased to ask for a higher price.
In fact, scavenging is a high-risk profession.
On the other hand, a few believe that, without those who retrieved the body, the family would not be able to find their loved one, so it is worth it to be paid for by the body pickers. Moreover, in a certain sense, the people who retrieved bodies from the Yellow River were also the ones who did good deeds.
In fact, scavenging is a high-risk profession. When working underwater, you never know what will happen. You may be able to safely retrieve the body, but you may not know for a second if you are still alive or not. Moreover, this work environment is at the border between life and death, often equated with bad luck, bad luck, even this profession is often not respected.
Most of these people are poor people . Once you’ve done this, it’s hard to do anything else. Because no one hires someone who has worked as a body picker. When you follow this profession, you are determined to live with that career for the rest of your life.
Due to the specificity of this profession, most of the body pickers are men , and not everyone can do it. The profession of scavenging requires that the salvager meet some specific conditions and undergo some special training.
For example, a body picker must know about things related to horoscopes, five elements, only then can he be tough enough and not be overwhelmed by spiritual fears when working with dead bodies. The body picker can only accept one more apprentice or absolutely no more.
After recovering the body ashore, if the victim’s family cannot immediately receive the body, in order to avoid rapid decomposition, the person who retrieves the body must temporarily store it in a body box. Body tanks are usually built in a shady place, away from sunlight.
In addition to the above conditions, those who retrieved bodies on the Yellow River also have many other taboos such as: Do not get into the boat to pick up the body in a storm. After 3 failed attempts to retrieve the body, do not try, each time before getting off. The boat to pick up the body needs to pay homage to King Hoang Ha and bring a rooster on the boat to sacrifice to Ha Ba, after making the sacrifice, twist the chicken’s neck and throw it into the river as a “sacrifice”.
Due to the specificity of this profession, most of the body pickers are men.
The person who picks up the body should not accept money from the family of the dead person, otherwise it will be bad luck for 3 years. Instead of giving money, the deceased’s family should invite the person to pick up the body to be a vegetarian at home. Before returning, they must tie a red strip three inches wide and one inch long on the middle finger of the person who picked up the body. All these procedures are aimed at warding off evil spirits, which is also an ancient rule in the Yellow River.
Body pickers also have their own principles of salvage . After the corpse is picked up, it should be covered with a white burlap, then a piece of hemp rope mixed with black dog hair is tied to the waist of the corpse, and then hung on the shady wall. When the family came to receive the body, they brought the body ashore.
Of course, not every body can be picked up by the person who picks up the body, if you encounter a floating corpse in an upright position, you should leave it and do not try to pick it up. Because, according to the concept of the body picking profession, they believe that they are looking for dead people, not ghosts, these floating corpses with an upright position in the water are not people but ghosts.
Some explanations of the ancients said that these people carry too deep a grudge and do not want to leave. If the person who picked up the body picked up this corpse, he would bring resentment, bring bad luck to himself, and possibly even lose his life.
With the advancement of science, legends or superstitions have been proven by modern science to be untrustworthy. Along with the progress of society, the traditional profession of catching corpses on the Yellow River is gradually stepping out of the historical stage. Most of these people are already elderly.
Lao Wei, the first generation of body pickers on the Yellow River. To this day, no one knows who the first body picker was, but Lao Wei is the most famous when they discovered he was the one who picked up the body. on the Yellow River.
Lao Wei is a native of Hekou, Lanzhou province, he started making a living by picking up dead bodies at the age of 16. After a while, people used to call him “Qui Hiep Hoang Ha” .
Old Wei grew up by the Yellow River. From a young age, Lao Wei often saw corpses falling from upstream, at that time he did not understand the concept of life and death, nor did he feel fear, even swimming with the corpse in the river.
Body pickers also have their own principles of salvage.
Speaking of which, many people fear that it’s a supernatural sight again. And of course not, the corpse can’t swim, it just floats forward under the action of the water and Lao Wei, a child who knows nothing, will swim after it.
It was because of this that Lao Wei was beaten by his father, but at the time he did not understand the problem. It was not until later, when he was an adult, that he realized that it was a very bad act. Old Wei said that he wanted to become a body picker to make up for his rudeness in the past.
Old Wei started to collect bodies on the Yellow River in 1963. He remembers very well, at that time, the traffic was not developed, the road to the Yellow River was still difficult, when family members came to receive the relatives’ bodies, the bodies were decomposed. cancel.
Talking about his profession, Lao Wei once shared that compared to intact bodies, he is always haunted by bodies that are not intact. Old Wei said that the first time he encountered these situations, he was so scared that he threw them back into the river. Not because he was afraid of the horror, but because he was afraid that people would think he was the killer.
Lao Wei’s relatives advised him that when he encountered this situation, he should report it to the police, he had done nothing wrong, so he did not have to be afraid. Furthermore, every citizen has an obligation to assist the police in solving the case, and he should do so for his own peace of mind. Old Wei obeyed and after recovering the corpse and handing it over to the police, he gradually found the meaning of the profession he was doing.
At the end of 2000, a hydroelectric power plant was built upstream, preventing garbage from drifting downriver and of course the corpse was also prevented, Lao Wei gradually lost his “environment” to pick up the body, he began to retire and His descendants took over the profession.
Today, the profession of picking up bodies in the Yellow River is “upgraded” to a salvage team.
Talking about his profession, Lao Wei is always proud, saying that he helped the corpse find its way back to his family. As for the corpses that are stopped at the hydroelectric power station, there will be other scavengers, but they are not like Lao Wei, and most of them see body picking as a business to earn money.
Today, the profession of picking up bodies in the Yellow River is “upgraded” to a salvage team. The Wei family has always been the most famous local family taking over this profession. In addition, this profession is gradually supported by the government, even though it is a profession that scares everyone, in fact it is indispensable in life.
In the future, many people hope that this profession will be appreciated for its role and be more respected, because the body picker is the only person to find the dead body and help the dead person find his or her family.