‘I feel bad about what happened but when I saw her she wasn’t what I had expected and I realised she would be bad for my image,’ he said after being fished from a river.

The 33-year-old stunned guests when he apologised to bride Na Sung, 30, after saying she was ‘too ugly’ before the wedding in Shiyan, in central China’s Hubei province.

He hadn’t been able to get a glimpse of her because it was an arranged marriage, which he had been forced into.

Hours after the cancelled ceremony he was spotted lying face down in a river.

‘He was unconscious and I thought he was dead,’ claimed eyewitness Qan Tsui, 25, who took photos of the rescue.

Kang was rushed to hospital where doctors said he was in a stable condition.