China TV story about man accused of murdering uncle by getting inauspicious Lunar New Year haircut s

According to Chinese custom, “cutting hair on the second day of the first lunar month brings death to the uncle”.

As a result of his untimely trim, Liu’s aunt, the wife of the dead man, accused Liu of “indirect intentional homicide” and demanded compensation of one million yuan (US$140,000).

Liu had a strained relationship with his uncle and aunt, often getting into arguments with them.

On the same day he had his haircut, Liu’s uncle expressed displeasure about his nephew’s unkempt appearance, saying it was inauspicious for the new year.

Liu stormed out in anger and went to a barbershop to get his hair trimmed.

That night, the uncle crashed his vehicle into a utility pole and died, leading to the “murder” accusation by Liu’s aunt.

“You’ve cursed my husband to death!” she told Liu, before filing a lawsuit against him.

Rejecting the lawsuit, a court ruled that the uncle’s death was caused by drink driving and was unrelated to the haircut.

In China, indirect intentional homicide falls under intentional homicide, punishable by death, or a sentence of 10 years in prison.

During this year’s Spring Festival, China Central Television aired a programme called “Cases of the New Year Season”, to look back at cases deemed to be of “educational significance”.

“From a scientific perspective, the belief that one cannot cut their hair in the first lunar month is purely superstitious. If there were truly such a method of murdering a person, the police would easily identify the ‘suspect’,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Association for Science and Technology.

Over centuries many people in China feared that by cutting hair they could harm their relatives.

Hair “given” by parents was considered as precious as life itself, and because cutting it symbolises loss, it was inauspicious to cut it at the start of a year.

The revival of Liu’s case sparked discussions on mainland social media, with related topics attracting more than 220 million views on Weibo.

“I can’t believe that Liu’s aunt dared to demand one million yuan. The greed of human beings seems to know no limits,” said one online observer.

“I don’t dare to get my hair cut during the Lunar New Year period for fear of bringing bad luck,” said another.

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