The Fear of Witchcraft and Witches in Imperial China - (Sinica Leidensia) by Barend Ter Haar (Hardcover)

About the Book

During familial, social and political conflicts, people in traditional China accused their enemies of manipulating figurines or cooperating with an animal or demon familiar to harm them. This then led to deadly persecutions, although rarely on a massive scale.

Book Synopsis

In historical surveys of witches and witchcraft, the Chinese case is surprisingly absent. This book intends to fill that gap.
Traditional China had at least two different strands of fear, directed at women and sometimes also men. The fear of witches harming people through figurines remained limited to individual social and personal conflicts, for instance between women competing for the attention of their partner or a carpenter and his customers. There was usually a clear winning party. The fear of witches using animal or demon familiars to harm members of their own community indiscriminately led to social exclusion or worse.

About the Author

Barend J. ter Haar (Doctorate, Leiden, 1990), taught at the Universities of Leiden, Heidelberg, Oxford and Hamburg. Among his publications are Guan Yu: The Religious Afterlife of a Failed Hero (2017) and Religious Culture and Violence in Traditional China (2019).