HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese police have arrested members of a gang suspected of murdering more than 100 disabled or elderly people and selling their corpses in a bizarre scheme to avoid cremations, a newspaper said on Tuesday.
Burials have traditionally been seen as the most respectful way to handle the dead in China, but were discouraged after the Communists came to power in 1949 to conserve farmland and eradicate superstition.

The bodies were bought by wealthy families and sent for cremation in lieu of deceased relatives who were then secretly buried, the South China Morning Post reported.

Linky

Is it just me or does China get a bit scarier every time you read something in the news about it?

Emidawg - 02 September 2008 08:44 PM

Is it just me or does China get a bit scarier every time you read something in the news about it?

Maybe that is exactly the purpose of all these news messages.

US brothers admit selling corpses

Two brothers who ran a crematorium and a pair of funeral homes in the US have admitted selling corpses to a company that trafficked stolen body parts.

Louis and Gerald Garzone pleaded guilty in Philadelphia to charges including conspiracy, theft and abusing corpses.

They allowed at least 244 corpses to be carved up without medical tests or permission from relatives.

The parts were later sold to doctors for transplants in a scam that made $4.6m (£2.3m).

Full source

The first article indicates purposeful murder for profit. 
The second article indicates profit from prior death.

It does put into question the credibility of body parts to the end-user recipients of EITHER of these, however, particularly body parts from an elderly donor or any body that has been dead for awhile. 

I do remember the second article but cannot recall if the article identified the ‘firms’ or businesses who were buying them, whether these were located within the United States, or other borders.  Of course it really makes no difference, this is still a crime beyond any ethical, legal or moral borders.

There are evil people everywhere, a country boundary doesn’t define where they are.

Exactly.

I’ve been to China (and the US). It’s not so scary as you might think from the news reports.

LaMa - 03 September 2008 06:27 AM

Exactly.

I’ve been to China (and the US). It’s not so scary as you might think from the news reports.

Which…. the US?

I live in the US
it gets scarier every day.

It just seems to me that the media is purposefully trying to make China look bad.

After the whole lead tainted products thing Ive seen more and more oddball stuff about China.

Was it because of the Olympics… media outlets a little more open and stuff is getting out?

Emidawg - 03 September 2008 06:34 PM

Was it because of the Olympics… media outlets a little more open and stuff is getting out?

Got to go with the fad.
No one wants to be left behind.

Yeah, it’s probably just what’s fashionable now.  Just like how when there’s a big wildfire, suddenly every little fire anywhere in the world gets extensively reported even though the actual number of them occurring hasn’t changed.  Right now, the big thing is news about China.

Of course, China does have a rather major percentage of the world’s population, so it’s also just going to be true that a disproportionate amount of stuff will be happening in that one country.  Not that much of what does happen there is actually reported on.

Add the efficient border surrounding this country and the numbers within that border and then try to understand the ‘psychology’ of that mass living under eroding resource conditions. 

I believe I’ve told this story before but I’ll brief it again here.  I once had three mice that quickly grew 80 mice (not surprising) within a couple months.  Cages were outgrown before new accommodations could be provided.  I exported them to a pet store in a handled container which was na short distance away.  During that ride, however, they began to claw at each other and by the time I arrived, all but a couple were dead. 

Under gross and severe living conditions, civilized behaviors decline.  In an effort to survive, laws are only bits of useless flotsam easily discarded.