In the latest case of one of China’s infamous “wedding pranks” going horribly awry, a groom was hit by a car on Sunday while attempting to escape from the harassment of his well-wishers.
The incident occurred in the Guizhou city of Zunyi on the 24-year-old groom’s wedding day as he was on his way back to his house. On the street, the groom, surnamed Ai, was suddenly attacked by his “friends” who pelted him with eggs, doused him in alcohol, and sprayed him with ink before stripping off his clothes, taping him to a utility pole, and beating him with some bamboo.
While trying to flee from their hazing, Ai hopped a fence and ran onto a busy highway where he was then struck by a passing vehicle, ending up lying on the road nearly naked and badly injured.
Villagers quickly called for an ambulance which rushed Ai to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a skull fracture and a brain hemorrhage. The wedding had to be postponed.
Ai is far from the first groom in China to have his wedding plans ruined by the “pranks” of his friends. Last year, a best man tied a groom to a pole in the city of Guangzhou and then strapped a bunch of firecrackers to his butt before setting them alight. The stunt ended up landing the groom at the hospital with a bloody backside on his wedding day.
Recently, these kinds of “wedding pranks” have been generating increased attention and anger. Back in April, video went viral of a groom being whipped by his family and friends before then having salt poured in his open wounds. The incident took place in the Hunan city of Shaoyang, which has a local custom of “beating the groom” (殴打新郎), an act meant to remind the man that marriage is not easy and that he should treasure it.
