Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768 / Edition 1

by Philip A. Kuhn

Overview

Midway through the reign of the Ch’ien-lung emperor, Hungli, in the most prosperous period of China’s last imperial dynasty, mass hysteria broke out among the common people. It was feared that sorcerers were roaming the land, clipping off the ends of men’s queues (the braids worn by royal decree), and chanting magical incantations over them in order to steal the souls of their owners. In a fascinating chronicle of this epidemic of fear and the official prosecution of soulstealers that ensued, Philip Kuhn provides an intimate glimpse into the world of eighteenth-century China.

Kuhn weaves his exploration of the sorcery cases with a survey of the social and economic history of the era. Drawing on a rich repository of documents found in the imperial archives, he presents in detail the harrowing interrogations of the accused—a ragtag assortment of vagabonds, beggars, and roving clergy—conducted under torture by provincial magistrates. In tracing the panic’s spread from peasant hut to imperial court, Kuhn unmasks the political menace lurking behind the queue-clipping scare as well as the complex of folk beliefs that lay beneath popular fears of sorcery.

Kuhn shows how the campaign against sorcery provides insight into the period’s social structure and ethnic tensions, the relationship between monarch and bureaucrat, and the inner workings of the state. Whatever its intended purposes, the author argues, the campaign offered Hungli a splendid chance to force his provincial chiefs to crack down on local officials, to reinforce his personal supremacy over top bureaucrats, and to restate the norms of official behavior.

This wide-ranging narrative depicts life in imperial China as it was actually lived, often in the participants’ own words. Soulstealers offers a compelling portrait of the Chinese people—from peasant to emperor—and of the human condition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674821521
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1992
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	431,976
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Philip A. Kuhn was Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University.

Table of Contents

• Introduction

1. A Time of Turmoil
2. Model Rulers
3. Reforming into Collapse
4. The Song in the South
5. Three Doctrines
6. Education and Examination
7. Life Cycle Rituals
8. Exploring the World Within and Without
9. Transforming the Capitals
10. A Changing World of Production
11. Money and Taxes
12. Private Lives in the Public Sphere

• Conclusion
• Dynastic Rulers
• Measures
• Pronunciation Guide
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgments
• Index

What People are Saying About This

A subtle, powerful, and still relevant inquiry into the dynamics of autocratic rule.

From the Joseph Levenson Book Prize Citation

A subtle, powerful, and still relevant inquiry into the dynamics of autocratic rule.

Editorial Reviews

Kuhn’s fascinating particulars demonstrate how in any society provincial panic can become a national witch-hunt.

New Yorker

A subtle, powerful, and still relevant inquiry into the dynamics of autocratic rule.

From the Joseph Levenson Book Prize citation

A masterful study by one of the West’s premier Chinese historians.

New York Review of Books - Frederic Wakeman

Kuhn’s fascinating particulars demonstrate how in any society provincial panic can become a national witch-hunt.

New Yorker

A subtle, powerful, and still relevant inquiry into the dynamics of autocratic rule.

From the Joseph Levenson Book Prize Citation

A subtle, powerful, and still relevant inquiry into the dynamics of autocratic rule.

From The Joseph Levenson Book Prize Citation

A masterful study by one of the West's premier Chinese historians.
— Frederic Wakeman, Jr

New York Review of Books

Kuhn (history, Harvard U.) recreates the world of 18th century China through the exploration of a mass hysteria provoked by the belief that sorcerers were roaming the land, clipping off the ends of men's queues (the braids worn by royal decree), and chanting magical incantations over them in order to steal the souls of their owners. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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