China has been forced to deny claims that it is marinating dead bodies, canning them and selling them as a meat product in Africa, after a bizarre Facebook hoax went viral.
Rumours of the alleged trade in human meat first began circulating on social media thanks to a series of photographs of what appeared to be skinned people in a meat factory. Zambian press was accused of encouraging the rumours, after publishing articles that quoted alleged sources from inside the Chinese meat factories.
According to the alleged sources, the idea to use human meat came when China ran out of space to dispose of its dead.
Others claimed Beijing preferred to save its 'good meat' for richer, more powerful countries.
But China's ambassador to Zambia has issued a furious denial of the allegations. He said
Today a local tabloid newspaper is openly spreading a rumour, claiming that the Chinese use human meat to make corned beef and sell it to Africa,' said Yang Youming, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.
‘This is completely a malicious slandering and vilification which is absolutely unacceptable to us. We hereby express our utmost anger and the strongest condemnation over such an act.’
He reportedly claimed that the rumours were being circulated by 'people with ulterior motives were attempting to destroy the long-standing partnership between Zambia and China’.
While it is certainly true that China is experimenting with ways to cut down on real estate for the dead, this rumor would appear to be false. Hoax-busting website Snopes.com has found that the photographs of "human flesh" shared online are actually from a 2012 marketing stunt for the video game Resident Evil 6.
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