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Author Yu, Jimmy, 1968-

Title Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500-1700
Published Oxford : Oxford University Press, USA, 2012

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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
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
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
Rites and ceremonies -- China -- History -- 16th century
Violence -- Religious aspects -- History -- 16th century
Self-mutilation -- Religious aspects -- History -- 17th century
Rites and ceremonies -- China -- History -- 17th century
Violence -- Religious aspects -- History -- 17th century
Rites and ceremonies
Violence -- Religious aspects
SUBJECT China -- Religious life and customs
Subject China
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780199844890
0199844895