Comatose kowtow: Chinese newlyweds genuflect beside hospital bed of coma-hit father of groom sparkin

A newlywed couple in China have generated a spirited online discussion after a video of them kowtowing to the comatose father of the bridegroom as he lay in hospital on their wedding day went viral.

The footage, taken in a hospital in northern China’s Hebei province on December 30, last year, shows the bridegroom placing a red packet in the hand of his bedridden father, who has been in a coma for six months after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

The bride then completes the blessing ritual by “receiving” the red packet from the hand of her comatose father-in-law.

The couple then kneeled down and bowed in front of the sickbed, to pay respect to the man for raising his son, the bridegroom, surnamed Fan, told Jimu News.

The special ritual was arranged with the help of hospital staff, who pushed the man’s sickbed out of the intensive care unit for a few minutes because Fan was worried that they might carry coronavirus and could contaminate the ward.

Although Fan said his wife supported his decision to go ahead with the ritual, opinion among Chinese people was divided.

While some praised the young couple for their filial piety, others said it looked more like a show.

“Who were they kowtowing to if his father was in a coma? He was tormenting his sick father to make himself feel good,” said one person on Weibo.

However, another said: “They should not be blamed for wanting the bridegroom’s father to witness their big moment.”

“Some medical studies suggest that talking to someone in a coma may help them recover. Maybe it can help the father get better by hearing the good news from his son and daughter-in-law,” a third Weibo poster said.

Others said they were upset by the kowtowing custom, which is more commonly performed at funerals.

The tradition of publicly kowtowing to people of superior status used to be a sign of deep respect in China, but it has disappeared from public occasions in the last century and is now mostly restricted to private ceremonies such as funerals and Chinese New Year greetings.

Kowtow as a wedding ritual is more commonly observed in rural northern China today, where it is seen as a gesture by newlyweds to show respect to their parents and other older relatives.

The custom is increasingly rejected by the younger generations who feel that it symbolises an inferior status and low self-esteem.

The tradition is hardly the most bizarre in China.

In 2013, a woman complained after her boyfriend’s family asked them to “go commando” on their wedding day because wearing underwear suggested an “unhappy married life”.

Last month, a woman in eastern China was asked to sweep the floor of her new home two days after her wedding by her mother-in-law, who hid 100-yuan banknotes in the garbage for the bride to collect, as a ritual blessing.

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