Son elated as late mother ‘attends’ his wedding
Compiled by C. ARUNO, BENJAMIN LEE and R. ARAVINTHAN

A BRIDEGROOM in northern Hebei province, China, shed tears of joy after his late mother “attended” his wedding and gave him her “blessing”, reported China Press.

It was all thanks to his new wife getting experts to recreate her mother-in-law using artificial intelligence (AI).

According to the bride Zhang Jing, the wedding was postponed after the groom’s mother died of cancer in May 2023.

This came as a severe blow to the groom, Zhang Jianshan, who had lost his father to an accident in 2022.

According to Jing, her fiance had always regretted that his mum could not be at his wedding.

Unbeknown to Jianshan, his to-be wife hired a team of AI experts who collected photographs, voice messages and videos of his mother.

The team spent several months creating a video of the mother, which mimics her mannerism and even her voice.

“The only imperfection was the AI video’s intonation. As mother-in-law fell sick, we had limited samples of her voice recordings,” Jing said.

The video was played at the event on June 9 as a surprise to the groom.

“Son, mother is happy seeing you getting married! You got fat! Zhang Jing is so beautiful today. Mother wishes you a happy marriage!

“Jianshan, rest assure mother will be well as long as you remain well. Don’t keep missing me,” the AI-generated mother said.

The footage moved Jianshan to tears. As Jing tried to console her new husband, guests at the reception got teary-eyed too.

> An injured Eason Chan (pic) was forced to postpone more concerts, China Press also reported.

In addition to his gig in Chongqing, China, this month, the Cantopop superstar announced that he would be postponing all shows on the Foshan leg of his Fear and Dreams tour, slated for next month, to January 2025.

According to his agency, Chan is recovering from his injuries, but doctors have advised that the singer take at least six weeks to rest and to complete his physical therapy.

It was earlier reported that the 49-year-old received 30 stitches after sustaining a fractured jawbone and a deep cut to his chin after he fainted from heat stroke while playing tennis on June 10.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
Found in Translation,Chinese Views,China,AI,Wedding,Eason Chan,Donnie Yen,Parkour,Zhang Lei
A BRIDEGROOM in northern Hebei province, China, shed tears of joy after his late mother “attended” his wedding and gave him her “blessing”, reported China Press.