Can you imagine the thought of eating someone else?
An urban legend in the Chinese community revolves around a murder where the victims’ bodies were disposed of by being turned into ‘char siu bao’, a barbecued-pork-filled bun delicacy. Legend has it that the human pork buns were sold to the unsuspecting public by the murderer and according to comments received, they were disturbingly delicious.
Reminds you of Sweeney Todd, doesn’t it? The murderous barber who gets rid of the bodies of his victims by stuffing them into meat pies? The musical was then adapted into a gruesome, musical slashed film starring Johnny Depp.
But this Chinese urban legend has its own gory film adaptation as well starring Anthony Wong. Titled The Eight Immortals, the film details the murders that took place at the restaurant.
Owned by a former food vendor Zheng Lin, he and his wife brought up their happy family there until they fell into gambling addiction. Their vice proved to be fatal when Huang Zhiheng, a mainlander with an extensive criminal record in Hong Kong, entered the picture. Zheng badly lost the games and owed Huang 180,000 yuan, so he promised Huang ownership of his restaurant if he failed to pay his dues within a year. But Zheng never held up his end of the bargain and Huang, apparently, ran out of patience.
Chaos hit the fan when, on a random day, Huang burst in and demanded his money, suggesting that Zheng pay 20,000 yuan first. Zheng failed to do so, and refused to transfer the restaurant ownership as promised.
A deliveryman was the last person to see the Zheng family alive.
According to press reports, Huang used a broken glass to take Zheng’s son hostage and ordered the rest of the family to gag and bind each other. No one was sure what happened next but apparently someone screamed and attempted to run, causing Huang to slash their throat before murdering the entire family. Zheng’s sister, who lived nearby, was not spared either.
Huang dismembered the bodies and discarded them into garbage bags before tossing them into the sea or garbage dumps. He then cleaned up the restaurant, took the money, and stayed in Zheng’s home. Some of the human limbs were found, and Huang was finally arrested. He did not last long in prison before kicking over the bucket and slit his wrists with a tin can lid.
Due to the fact that Huang had been running the restaurant for some time and not all the body parts were recovered, rumours spread that he had served up parts of his victims to customers in the form of the restaurant’s signature ‘char siu bao’.
Watch what you eat, guys.
*Cover image via Asian Inspirations
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