Telling stories : witchcraft and scapegoating in Chinese history

IX, 378 S. : Ill.

Sinica Leidensia. - Leiden [u.a.] ; Köln : Brill, ISSN 0169-9563. - Vol. 71

Includes bibliographical references (p. [349]-371) and index

Inhalt: 1. INTRODUCTION -- The Topic of Investigation -- The Conceptual Framework -- Contents and Structure of this Book -- 2. THE SPOTTED BARBARIAN AND AUNTIE OLD TIGER -- Warning Children about the Bogeyman -- Beating the Yehu -- Auntie Old Tiger: Historical Evidence -- Auntie Old Tiger: The Oral Tale of the Twentieth Century -- A Comparative Approach -- Concluding Remarks -- 3. ORGAN-SNATCHING AND FOETUS-THEFT -- Camphor and Willow Deitics -- Early Rumours about Organ-snatching and Kidnapping -- Indigenous Scapegoats -- Random Rumours and Exorcist Killings -- Concluding Remarks -- 4. WESTERNERS AS SCAPEGOATS -- The Importance of Oral Culture -- The Yangzi River Valley Riots of 1891 -- The Riots: Scapegoating Westerners -- The Role of the Gathering of Brothers and Elders -- Concluding Observations -- Appendix 1. The Gathering of Brothers and Elders -- 5. DEMON BIRDS AND VICIOUS FOXES -- Obnoxious Foxes, Fearsome Sha-visits and Demonic Attacks -- Scares Caused by Dark Afflictions or Queue-cutters -- Song Rumours of "Flying Hats'' and "Dark Miasma'' -- Dark Afflictions: Ming Developments -- Chicken-attacks and Mixed Scares: Qing Developments -- On the Spread of Stories -- 6. WICKED WOMEN AND EVIL EMPERORS -- The Drought Demon -- The Fear of Imperial Harem Recruitment -- Concluding Observations -- 7. COMMUNICATION AND STIGMATIZATION -- The Power of Oral Communication -- Stories and Stigmatisation -- Why Scares Happened -- Telling Stories and Collective Action -- Bibliography -- Index

Angaben zum Inhalt: This book analyzes the role of oral stories in Chinese witch-hunts. Successive chapters deal with the implications of Chinese versions of the Little Red Riding Hood story; the use of parts of the adult human body, children and foetuses, to draw out their life-force; attacks by mysterious creatures, causing open wounds, suffocation, the loss of hair and the like; the presence of a Drought Demon in the corpses of recently deceased women; and finally the emperor forcibly recruiting unmarried women for his harem. Of interest to historians and anthropologists working on oral traditions, folklore and witch-hunts (also from a comparative perspective), but also to those working on anti-Christian movements and the intersection of popular fears and political history in China.