Imperialistic China: Legacy of Fear - Essay Example

IMPERIALISTIC CHINA: LEGACY OF FEAR By Devangini Mahapatra Chauhan Eighteenth century China was one ridden by fears and magical practices. But what most people are not aware of is that this was the period where the foundation stone was laid for the birth of the modern Chinese state. To be more precise, this period defined the "Chinese" elements of China. In the book titled, Soul stealers - The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768, author Philip A. Kuhn has tried to study the oppressive ruling patterns from a superstitious point of view. Through this paper, I will put forward a discussion that shows Kuhn's survey of the socio economic state of the era. To introduce the book, I would like to concentrate on the point of interest created by Kuhn - he has revealed a face of China which has been a mystery so far. With his excellent story telling skills, Kuhn has managed to grip the reader in this non fictional book. He basically analyses the socio economic environment of Eighteenth century China. The Ch'ien-lung emperor, Hungli, ruled during the most prosperous period of China's last imperial dynasty. At this point, there was great worry among the masses. It was feared that sorcerers were roaming the land, clipping off the ends of men's queues (the braids worn by people), and chanting magical incantations over them in order to steal their souls. The story grows over a tale of the spread of this fear and how these soul stealers were stopped by officials. Through his style and research, the author's account is explicit. Kuhn weaves his exploration of the sorcery cases through an exploration of the social and economic history of the time. He presents the details of the harrowing interrogations of the accused - an assortment of vagabonds, beggars, and clergy, by making use of literature found in the imperial archives. The provincial magistrates would torture the wrong doers, and these examples are used by Kuhn to show the panic's spread from the lowest quarters to king's court. Further, Kuhn reveals the political dangers that lurk behind the fears as well as the various folk beliefs behind the study of sorcery. In this way, Kuhn also shows how sorcery was curbed. This provides an insight into the structure and ethnic tensions of the period as well as the relationship between ruler and bureaucrat. Also, the inner workings of the state are depicted. The exercise of eliminating the widespread fears of that period gave Hungli a chance to force his officials and ministers catch hold of corrupt local officials. This way, he managed to present himself as a ruler who was way above top bureaucrats. Also, he now had the opportunity to emphasise on the fact that nothing less than proper behaviour will be acceptable in his kingdom. Through the story of the sorcery scare, Philip Kuhn's Soul stealers provides a broad picture. The author convincingly describes the various divisions of society in terms of attitudes and class barriers. By discussing the political system of the Qianlong period, he combines his wide knowledge base of the social and economic setting of mid-eighteenth century. This gives a rich picture of China as it is about to enter the modern era. The fears surrounding the soul stealers were present among the rulers as well as the common masses. Thus, it may be noted that although the Qianlong period has been hailed by historians as a prosperous age, the truth is different. The enormous pressure of the overpopulation and the worsening state of the economy had put the ordinary people in a state of uneasiness. Being a superstitious lot, the Chinese people, due to all these reasons, constantly felt threatened by unseen forces. This led to collaboration between the ruler and the common man in an effort to force the bureaucrats to make every possible effort to punish all cases of sorcery. Thus, the monks and beggars became the helpless victims. This demonstrates the fact that through the rise of fear and a feeling of powerlessness that spread among the commoners and the monarchy alike, there was a distinct shift in the way the affairs of the state were conducted. To be more precise, one must delve into the nuances presented by Kuhn's work. He describes details like the clothing of various classes of people to the bureaucratic and imperial leanings regarding power and prosecution methods. To the ordinary reader, these may hold no signification connection with the soul stealing problem. But on more careful analysis, one will find that it was the soul stealing problem that brought the problems from various quarters to the fore. Further, this presented a platform for the voicing and repairing of these problems. According to the historical depictions of Kuhn's book - in his characterisations and rituals alike - one finds that the underscore of sorcery and superstition is everywhere. This includes its political scenario as well as the social and economic backdrop of the Eighteenth century. Through the soul stealer case, Kuhn tries to demonstrate how many myths about the so called prosperity of the age and its superstitions were dispelled. Also, problems with the bureaucracy which involved corruption, red tapism, mal practices, misuse of power etc., were dealt with by the Emperor. In fact, due to the urgency of the soul stealing matter, the Emperor got a chance to question the bureaucracy and take measures to restrict their malpractices. Therefore, in certain ways, this period in Chinese history was more or less prosperous if we are to look at the improvements that were made to take place. The human condition, especially among the down trodden, was suddenly paid attention to. Hungli was determined to make the most of his rule and through the sorcery fears, he managed to not only pacify the people, but also give them hope for the future. The socio economic condition of the people was brought to betterment through a variety of ways and the monarchy and the common peasant finally got a chance to interact with reduced interference from the bureaucrat, whereas earlier, one would have to go only through the bureaucrats to put across grievances. The soul stealer crisis also helps us understand the relation between routine and random power in the Qing bureaucracy. The ruler in this system always had the desire to have wide control of the bureaucracy in a stable manner. At the same time, he needed to avoid becoming overtly dependant on the bureaucracy. Yet when this dynasty was in power, the bureaucracy had spread its roots so far, that the emperor's control over bureaucracy weakened. This led to deep concern about the bureaucrats' shortcomings such as sloth. Further, the government's laziness and personal ingratitude made it difficult for the various problems to be solved by merely making use of routine powers. The soul stealer case, as a political crime, shook the bureaucrats out of patterns of routine behavior that they had used for protecting their flaws. This also gave the emperor a chance to confront various problems. Also he had a chance of strengthening personal control over powerful and resourceful elite. Meanwhile, the bureaucrats did not totally surrender to royal bullying. They did so by refusing to accept the random powers through their own patterns of working. This included not giving out information, creating confusion to protect their own skin, cover-ups to protect personal relationships, and an inclination towards routine procedures. The routine and random powers, still found ways to live in tandem despite the fact that they clashed in certain respects. In his research, Kuhn combines various methodologies such as social history, cultural history, political history, economic history, and regional analysis, to display great strides in achievement of academic command. The weakness is that the local gentry, as one of the major powers of Qing dynasty, was totally left out of his body of work. With his disdain for routine procedures and exhibitionist traits, Hongli tended to highlight personality traits like leadership in selecting his closest bureaucrats. These are the very qualities that would permit the highest officials to keep their emperor in check. This dynamic system was probably part of what made the Qianlong Emperor's reign one of the most prosperous. And also a huge reason why the soul stealer scare turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the ruler. Being seen as a huge success as far as the political and economic state of affairs went, this dynasty was seen as a threat by neighboring states. This might have been one of the reasons, according to the author, that attributed to the soul stealer scare. Thus, the book talks of the fact that the state we see today has developed over the past two centuries largely as a response to internal challenges emerging from the late empire. It offers the scope to study the modernization of the state in response to external elements. The wide-ranging narrative in this book exhibits life in imperial China as it was actually lived, often in the participants' own words. In conclusion, it can be safely said that Soul stealers reads like a picture book of the Chinese people - from peasant to emperor - and of the human condition. References Cited: 1. Kuhn, Philip A (PK). Soulstealers - The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768. Harvard University Press; Reissue edition, January 20, 2007 Read More