Description |
1 online resource (289 pages) |
Contents |
Cover; Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; A Note on Dynasties and Reigns; Introduction; The Significance of This Study; Emic Categories and Exegetical Apparatuses; Methodological Approach; Sources and Their Agency and Limitations; 1. A Culture in Flux: Historical Background; Dramatic Economic Prosperity; Political Intrigues at the Court; Widespread Literacy and New Ideas of Morality; An Age of Sages?; 2. Embodying the Text through Blood Writing; Blood Writing as Filial Devotion; Self-Sacrifice and Negotiating Boundaries; 3. Nourishing the Parent with One's Own Flesh |
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The Larger Context of AnthropophagyContentious Representations of Filial Slicing; Miracles, Divinities, and Healers; 4. Chaste Widows as Entertainment and Revenants; The Practical and Conceptual Implications of Female Chastity; Performing Chastity as Passion (Qing); Reading Female Chastity as Entertainment; Chastity Suicides and Vengeful Revenants; 5. Exposing and Burning the Body for Rain; The Thaumaturgist and Ritual Exposure; Immolating the Body for Rain; The Power of the Body; Conclusion; Character Glossary; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; W; X; Y; Z; Notes |
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Abbreviations and ConventionsSelect Bibliography; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; X; Y; Z |
Summary |
In this illuminating study of a vital but long overlooked aspect of Chinese religious life, Jimmy Yu reveals that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, self-inflicted violence was an essential and sanctioned part of Chinese culture. He examines a wide range of practices, including blood writing, filial body-slicing, chastity mutilations and suicides, ritual exposure, and self-immolation, arguing that each practice was public, scripted, and a signal of cultural expectations. Individuals engaged in acts of self-inflicted violence to exercise power and to affect society, by articulating mor |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-256) and index |
Notes |
Print version record |
Subject |
Self-mutilation -- Religious aspects -- History -- 16th century
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Rites and ceremonies -- China -- History -- 16th century
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Violence -- Religious aspects -- History -- 16th century
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Self-mutilation -- Religious aspects -- History -- 17th century
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Rites and ceremonies -- China -- History -- 17th century
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Violence -- Religious aspects -- History -- 17th century
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Rites and ceremonies
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Violence -- Religious aspects
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SUBJECT |
China -- Religious life and customs
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Subject |
China
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Genre/Form |
History
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Form |
Electronic book
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ISBN |
9780199844890 |
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0199844895 |
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