Soulstealers: The Chinese Socery Scare of 1768

Reading in turn #1: Licia Kim

Introduction

Philip Kuhn's book, Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768 gives us an interesting view into the world of 18th Century China, right at the height of the Qing Dynasty. Qianlong was the Emperor. It was one of the most prosperous periods of China's history. During his reign, the population of China grew tremendously, almost tripling by the end of the century. This led to great numbers of unemployed wanderers- people (usually men) looking for a way to stay alive. Many were beggars, some claimed to be monks, some were looking for work but, all of them were poor and most of them were wanderers, not native to the areas where they were found begging. Strangers were everywhere (it seemed); people not known to the locals, hungry, homeless, sometimes desperate...

And so, the stories begin...

Early 1768

In 1768, A mason named Wu Tung-ming was hired to rebuild a water gate and bridge in the city of Te-ch'ing, Chekiang Province. On January 22, the mason and his crew started to drive the pilings(necessary to support the bridge)into the river bed. This was hard work, but they finished driving the pilings by March 6.

Since his crew was running out of food, Wu Tung-ming went back to his hometown to buy food for his men. When he returned he was told that a peasant had been asking to see him.

This peasant, named Shen Shih-liang, had an offer for him. He lived with two nephews who treated him very badly. They beat him, cheated him of his money and even abused his mother. Peasant Shen had heard that the men driving pilings were having a hard time and that they were seeking for the names of individuals whose souls they could use to increase the power of their hammers. They would place a piece of paper, with the person's name written upon it, on top of the piling and when they stuck with their hammers, the person's soul would be drawn out and it's life force added to the strike. In this way the pilings could be pounded more deeply into the river bed.

Of course, the person whose soul was thus used would eventually die.

Peasant Shen had copied the names of his nephews onto a paper that he now offered to the mason. Wu,was afraid to be caught up in rumors of soulstealing. He refused the peasant's offer and summoned the local headman to arrest Shen and take him to the Magistrate for questioning.

The Magistrate sentenced peasant Shen to be beaten with 25 strokes and released (hopefully a little wiser). Unfortunately for Mason Wu, this was not the end of his troubles.

Later that spring, a Te-ching man, named Chi Chao-mei, who had been helping to arrange a funeral came home a little drunk. His uncle accused him of drinking and gambling and beat him. So, the young man left his home and walked to the provincial capital, Hangchow, where he planned to beg for his living. Late one night in early April, a local grew suspicious of his accent and when he learned that he was from Te-ching, he accused him of having come to steal souls to help build a bridge. He was beaten and dragged off to the local headman's house. Scared, he confessed to soul stealing when the headman threatened to beat him. He said he'd had a bunch of paper charms but that he'd thrown all but two into West Lake. He made up the names of two children and said that he'd used the charms to kill them. So, he was sent to be questioned by higher officials until he ended up in front of the Magistrate.

The magistrate ordered him to tell who had ordered him to steal souls. Having heard of the bridge, and the rumors of soul stealing, the young man said it was the head mason, Wu Jui-ming. Unfortunately for Mason Wu, this was too close to his name and he was arrested. Unfortunately for Chi Chao-mei, he had never seen the mason and couldn't pick him out of a line up. So, Chi was tortured until he admitted he'd made up the story. (The primary means of torture was a device called the chia-kun. It steadily applied pressure to the accused person's ankles until (if the person persisted in proclaiming his innocence) the bones in his ankles were "squashed to jelly".)

The Governor ordered the local officials to make an end of this. All the involved parties were re-questioned and when no evidence of soul stealing was found peasant Shen, Chi Cao-mei and an Herbalist (who'd been caught trying to frame the bridge builders for soul stealing) were all punished. That, the officials believed, was the end of the matter- after all, no one had died. Public order was restored. End of story...

Well, not quite.

The rumors of soul stealing spread. Four wandering monks were arrested in Hsiao-shan,for soul stealing when one of them asked a little boy for his name. They insisted that they were innocent and that the local constable had framed them (by hiding what looked like the ends of clipped off queues in their belongings) when they couldn't pay him a bribe. Even under torture, the monk who'd asked the boy's name, Cheng-i, stuck to his story. So, they were sent up the ladder until they ended up before the provincial judge. He thought their story sounded believable and, when the constable was left to kneel before the judge all day long, he confessed to having tried to frame them because they wouldn't give him a bribe. The constable was beaten and the monks were freed (with some cash to help until the bones (broken during torture) could heal).

The monks were lucky. That same day, in that same province, a tinker was beaten to death by a mob who believed they had found soul stealing charms on him. And the incidents continued. In each case, the officials tried hard to find out the truth and to punish the wrong doers. What mattered most was that the public had to be kept from panic. The officials believed that by punishing the ones guilty of starting rumors, or falsifying evidence, they could settle the issue quickly and quietly.

Definitions- Sorcery and Soul stealing

So, what is soul stealing? In 18th Century China, there were believed to be three kinds of sorcery; Cognitive sorcery (foretelling the future), Telekinetic sorcery (moving matter through space) and Bio-dynamic sorcery (manipulation of life force). Soul stealing fell under the last category. What scared people most was that sorcery could be learned by anyone. All that was needed was the proper words and items. For soul stealing, the sorcerer needed something personal, like a name, hair, from a man's clipped-off queue or a piece of a woman's lapel. With any of these, the sorcerer could "call" the person's soul to him and then use it to augment his power.

The Chinese believed that the soul had two parts, corresponding to the positive and negative aspects of the universe- the yin and yang forces. The yin part of the soul was the part that connected a person to the earth. The yang part of the soul was the part that animated a person. The Chinese believed that this "yang" soul could be, and often was, separated from the person it belonged to. Sometimes it wandered off during sleep. Sometimes it might be scared away. If a child was acting listless, the parents might decide that the child's "yang" soul had become lost. In one province the parents would take a set of the child's clothes outside and wave them in the air (so the soul would see them and know where to come back too) while they called out for the soul to return. This sort of "soul calling" was accepted and intended only to return the soul to it's rightful owner. Without the "yang" soul, a person would sicken, and eventually, die. It was this "yang" part of the soul that soul stealing sorcerers were after. They would use the name, or hair (or lapel) as an anchor and "call" the person's "yang" soul out of it's body. It would come to the hair (or name or lapel) and the sorcerer could us it as he pleased, while the soul's owner sickened and died. That is what soul stealing was all about.

Mid 1768 - The Emperor gets involved

A Map of China from 1768.

A Map of locations where soulstealing was reported.

Just before he set out for his summer capitol, north of the Great Wall, Emperor Qianlong (whom the author refers to by his birth name, Hung-li)sent a letter to the provincial officials of the provinces where the early spring soul stealing incidents had occurred; G'aojin- Governor-general of the Liangkiang area (the three provinces of Kiangsu, Kiangsi and Anhwei); Yungde- newly appointed (April 25, 1768) governor of Chekiang province and Funihan- governor of Shantung province. In a court document he orders the officials to, quietly, investigate reports of soul stealing and queue clipping. If there was really sorcery going on, the officials were to stop it. If someone were spreading rumors, they were to stop them. He felt that such rumors could incite public and must be stopped. How he found out about these incidents, he didn't say. Obviously the Emperor had a good information network, because, none of his provincial governors had considered the incidents important enough to report to the Emperor.

The governor of Shantung province, Funihan, sent a letter to the Emperor, dated July 24, (The Emperor's letter was dated July 25), to report on queue clipping rumors in his province. Remember, with a man's queue a sorcerer could call his soul from him. The timing of his letter is fortuitous- withholding information from the Emperor could be hazardous to your career (and health). This is the first, official, word sent to the Emperor, something the Emperor was not pleased about. In subsequent letters he let his governors know just how displeased he was with their delay.

Qianlong's officials had two ways to send him reports. Reports sent the official way went through many hands before the Emperor received them (if he ever did) and he could never be sure that they were not tampered with. So, officials were also required to send private reports to him. These reports would be delivered by a trusted vassal and came directly to the Emperor's hand. He would read the reports, make any comments he thought the report merited (written in vermilion (red) ink and by his own hand) and then send the letter back to the official. Prior to July, not one of his governors had seen fit to send word of soul stealing incidents within their jurisdiction, through either report system.

Qianlong could see only one possible reason for this, his governors were more concerned with keeping their comfortable cushy positions than they were with sending their Emperor the vital information he needed to keep harmony in the Empire. His first letter was mild; his later letters were anything but mild. He accused his governors of withholding information and of being lazy and incompetent. Not what an Imperial Governor wants to hear from his Emperor.

These governors were busy men and presided over heavily populated provinces- several times the size of European nations. In 1768 China had approximately 350,000,000 people living within it's borders (France had less than 35,000,000 and England had about 10,000,000). Busy or not, Qianlong found it suspicious that these men waited months before reporting anything to him. The system of private letters meant that an official could report something to the Emperor without anyone else knowing. Such an official sent off his letters never knowing what his neighbor might have said to the Emperor about him. Being in charge of such vast populations meant that the Emperor had to give his governors a lot of lee way, but they were to keep him up to date on events. Furthermore, the Emperor expected his officials to take care of problems within their jurisdictions and to anticipate his needs by diligently working to further his royal objectives. These officials were the policeman, prosecutors and judges for their provinces. Since many types of sorcery were considered capital crimes, and, all deathe sentences were referred to the Emperor for review, a governor could expect his Emperor to be upset if such a crime was referred to him, and he'd never heard about it.

The first letters to the Emperor, weren't too concerned about soul stealing- they reported the incidents as (almost) minor occurrences. Qianlong didn't agree. Confessions wrung from suspected soul stealers stated that there were "master" soul stealers hiding in the country. They offered homeless wanderers (and other poor folk) money if they would cut off the end of queues and deliver them to these "masters". He accused his governors of failing to follow up on the leads thus obtained. Qianlong wanted these "masters" found and dealt with. And he wanted it done fast.

The problem was, no matter how hard the governors tried, they couldn't find anyone where the "master" stealers were said to be. No one matching the confessions seemed to exist. Frustrated with the (seeming) incompetence of his governors, Qianlong ordered many of the convicted "soul stealers" sent to Beijing (and some he even ordered sent to his summer court)where officials he trusted could interview the individuals and find the truth. This didn't mean, though, that the governors were off the hook. He still expected them to find, and arrest, any and all soul stealers. So, the governors started arresting wandering vagrants and monks- anyone who might, just possibly, be guilty of attempting soul stealing. They tried to do as the Emperor commanded and reported numerous arrests, but no concrete evidence of wrong doing could be found. Furthermore, in spite of the government's best efforts, rumors of soul stealing spread throughout the provinces, eventually even reaching Beijing.

Through August and September the letters continued to be sent. Eventually, one of the governors was able to report the arrest of one of the suspected "Master" soul stealers, a beggar named Chang Ssu. He was found with a knife, a packet of drugs (believed to be used to stupefy the victim just long enough to clip his queue)and a cut off queue. This beggar's name was almost the same as one of the reported "masters" - Chang Ssu-ju and his possession of hair, knife and drugs seemed to be all proof needed of his identity. Governor G'aojin sent a report the Emperor stating that he was going to question the man himself. The Emperor (in red ink) told him to "do your best to investigate this man's tracks in detail." He also reminded the governor to remember that, as soon as he resorted to torture, he could expect no true confession. Unfortunately, no such confession could be obtained. Beggar Chang insisted that his name was not Chang Ssu-ju and that he was innocent. Subsequent investigation confirmed his innocence.

By early October, the Emperor was convinced that there were "master" soul stealers hiding all through his empire but that they kept moving. He believed that they were spreading rumors to encourage peasants to cut off their own queues (thus making queue clipping useless for the soul stealer. A law forbidding this action stopped the self queue cutting). He became steadily more convinced that the "masters" were actually out to stir up rebellion in an attempt to overthrow the dynasty. His letters to the governors continued to urge them to seek for the guilty, but clever, conspirtors.

At this same time, the governors were becoming more convinced that there was nothing to be found. Even the grand councillors in Beijing, charged by the Emperor with finding out the truth which his governors could not, found themselves with a problem. The more they re-interrogated the suspects sent north at the Emperors command, the more they became convinced that, there was no conspiracy. They were unable to confirm even one case of soul stealing, let alone a nationwide plague of them. Even Duke Fuheng, one of the Emperor's most trusted advisers and the man charged with examining the prisoners sent on to the Summer capitol, became convinced that there was nothing to find. When the court prepared to return to Beijing in the end of October, it seemed there was only one man still convinced there was a serious problem in China, and that man was the Emperor himself.

Each year, the Emperor's personal representative in Beijing (while he was at his Summer Capitol), Liu T'ung-hsun, would travel north to join the Emperor in mid October and review with him the death sentence cases that had accumulated over the summer. This year he left Beijing on October 18 and from the 21st of October to the 26th, he and Duke Fuheng spent their time with the Emperor. The court set out for Beijing on October 26th and on November 3rd, Emperor Qianlong called off the soulstealing prosecution. He sent a letter to the governors and governor generals. In this letter, he laid the blame for his repeated edicts on the mismanagement of the whole affair by "local officials". These local officials hadn't reported the incidents quickly, and when they did try to handle the cases, they extorted confessions with torture. Since these officials started out by concealing facts and trying to avoid responsibility, the "master" criminals were never caught. This clearly made it useless to continue prosecuting this case. Publicly, the Emperor laid all the blame for the last several months on "local officials". Privately, he reminded those same officials to remain vigilant, just in case. and he responded mildly to an official letter from Funihan who plaintively protested that he'd done all he could to follow the Emperor's every command. It would appear that the Emperor used the letter as a face saving way to end the entire affair. It would not be brought up again.

And "they all lived happily ever after"...? Well...

Conclusion

The author draws several conclusions from these events. First, he considers the Emperor's response and possible reasons for it.

The Emperor was dependent upon his provincial governors to run the country. No system of government is perfect, and promoting a new governor was always a little risky. The author gives a fairly in depth review of what the current the procedures for promotion were. Qianlong wasn't exactly happy with the system, but was able to work within it. As the system stood, it was all to easy for provincial officials to become complacent, moved up automatically by superiors who wanted their support and loyalty, thus ensuring their own continuance in "cushy" government positions. The author suggests that Qianlong might have used this "crisis" as an opportunity to remind his governors of who was really in charge. Regardless of his personal views of sorcery, the Emperor's main concern was the security of his rule.

For their part, the governors seemed to get the message. From July, when the first letter from the Emperor came out until November when the search was called off, the reader can see a steady increase in diligence on the part of the governors. Prior to the letters, it was just business as usual; collect the taxes, keep the people quiet and enjoy your nice safe position. The next several months showed the governors that, even their jobs could be lost. If nothing else was accomplished, the Emperor certainly got a lot of mail that summer. And his governors started to sit up and pay attention. Throughout the entire process, all the folks involved truly seemed to be concerned with doing their duty, and finding the truth, even when that truth inconveniently turned out to be that, there was nothing going on.

For the common people, nothing much changed. There were still far too many mouths to feed and far too few jobs. The wanderer was still someone to be wary of.

One last note.

In the course of their investigation, (which continued a month or so after the Emperor's letter came out) all the innocent folks from the stories at the beginning of the book were cleared of any wrongdoing and sent home. The officials also found out what probably started this whole mess. It wasn't peasant Shen.

A small temple, near Te-ch'ing was having trouble. Fewer and fewer worshipers were coming to the temple. Offerings were dropping and the monks were very poor. Nearby was a very prosperous temple. Early that spring one of the lay monks had an idea. If they spread the word that the masons building a bridge near the other temple were practicing sorcery, it would "pollute" the environment around the other temple and perhaps, some of those worshipers would come to their temple instead. Further more, Mason Wu had won the contract over several local people. It shouldn't be too hard to convince the locals that these disgruntled rival groups had turned to sorcery in an attempt to get even. A poster was created accusing the masons of burying "death magic" on the path to the other temple. To avoid becoming contaminated, it was recommended that all people come to a (their) clean temple. When questioned about this Mason Wu couldn't confirm or deny the possibility. As far as he knew, no one wanted any revenge for losing the contract. Still, it sounded possible to the grand councilors. In any event, Mason Wu was clearly innocent of any wrong doing. He was released and sent home.

Maybe they all did "live happily ever after" after all.