{
  "id": 755346,
  "title": "Chinese custom sees women throw embroidered balls from balconies to choose husbands",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/13/chinese-custom-sees-women-throw-embroidered-balls-from-balconies-to",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-13T10:00:17.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3363921/chinese-custom-sees-women-throw-embroidered-balls-balconies-choose-husbands"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "In some classic Chinese novels and period dramas, women of ancient times would throw an embroidered ball from a balcony to the street to randomly choose whoever caught it as their husband. In the classic novel Journey to the West, published in the 16th century, the father of the main character, Buddhist monk Xuanzang, was chosen by his mother by throwing an embroidered ball. In the 1998 Chinese…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}