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Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768 by Kuhn, Philip A.
by Kuhn, Philip A. | PB | Good
US $16.12
ApproximatelyS$ 20.85
Condition:
“Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ”... Read moreabout condition
Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including scuff marks, but no holes or tears. The dust jacket for hard covers may not be included. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with minimal creasing or tearing, minimal pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages.
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eBay item number:145526689209
Item specifics
- Condition
- Good
- Seller Notes
- Binding
- Paperback
- Weight
- 1 lbs
- Product Group
- Book
- IsTextBook
- Yes
- ISBN
- 0674821521
- Subject Area
- History
- Publication Name
- Soulstealers : the Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768
- Publisher
- Harvard University Press
- Item Length
- 9.2 in
- Subject
- Modern / 18th Century, Social History, Asia / China
- Publication Year
- 1992
- Type
- Textbook
- Format
- Trade Paperback
- Language
- English
- Item Height
- 0.8 in
- Item Weight
- 16 Oz
- Item Width
- 6.1 in
- Number of Pages
- 320 Pages
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Harvard University Press
ISBN-10
0674821521
ISBN-13
9780674821521
eBay Product ID (ePID)
1096032
Product Key Features
Number of Pages
320 Pages
Publication Name
Soulstealers : the Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768
Language
English
Subject
Modern / 18th Century, Social History, Asia / China
Publication Year
1992
Type
Textbook
Subject Area
History
Format
Trade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height
0.8 in
Item Weight
16 Oz
Item Length
9.2 in
Item Width
6.1 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Scholarly & Professional
Dewey Edition
20
Reviews
Kuhn's fascinating particulars demonstrate how in any society provincial panic can become a national witch-hunt.
Illustrated
Yes
Dewey Decimal
951/.032
Table Of Content
1. Tales of the China Clipper 2. The Prosperous Age 3. Threats Seen and Unseen 4. The Crime Defined 5. The Roots of Sorcery Fear 6. The Campaign in the Provinces 7. On the Trail of the Master-Sorcerers 8. The End of the Trail 9. Political Crime and Bureaucratic Monarchy 10. Theme and Variations Notes Bibliography Glossary Index
Synopsis
During the reign of Emperor Ch'ien-lung, mass hysteria broke out among the common people, who feared that sorcerers were roaming the land and clipping the ends of men's braids in order to steal their souls. In his chronicle of this epidemic of fear and the official prosecutions that ensued, Kuhn opens a window on eighteenth-century China., 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.
LC Classification Number
DS754.8
Item description from the seller
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