cannibalism in china During the Southern Northern Dynasties where the nomads invaded China, millions of Han Chinese

were consumed by the nomads. The Chinese Han people were called literally meaning "Sheep with to feet". Under the Shi Zhao dynasty, one of its emperor once said: Translated means: "Is there anything more delicious than human flesh? As long as there are humans in other countries, I will not worry for supply for my invasions" . This emperors most favorable food is young Chinese virgin`s breast, saying it has the perfect amount of fat and muscle. ************************************ -I know which online articles you got this from. All of them are fabrications made up by Han nationalists; I suggest you read either Shiliuguo Chunqiu or Jin Shu to see if there is any basis for them at all. The line was actually spoken by a rebel warlord named Zhu Can during the civil wars at the end of the Sui empire. According to a text named , Zhu said this after feeding civilians to his troops during a famine in the Xiangyang region where they were rebelling. There are only two examples from the Age of Fragmentation of a government feeding human flesh to its soldiers. The first was during the siege of Ye by the Murong Xianbi. The Ran-Wei government, which was being besieged in Ye, allowed its soldiers to kill and eat the thousands of concubines collected in the 340s by the Later Zhao emperor Shi Hu. Note that most of these concubines were 'Han', and so were the leaders of the Ran-Wei regime (Ran Min was already captured by the Murong by this point, so the regime was led by Jiang Gan and Ran Min's young son). Whereas Shi Hu is often condemned for collecting so many concubines, at least he never ate them. Some Han nationalist articles claim that Ran Min freed the concubines after taking power in 350. That is clearly untrue, otherwise why would they still be in Ye to be eaten by his soldiers in 352? The second was during the war between Former Qin and Later Qin in the Longxi region between 386 and 394. Fu Deng, the Former Qin ruler, did not have enough food to feed his soldiers because the region was suffering from famine and drought. So he ordered his soldiers to eat the corpses of dead enemy soldiers after every battle, saying: "If you fight in the daytime, you get lots of meat to eat at night. Why would you need to fear going hungry?" His soldiers followed his order and got strong and healthy from eating dead Later Qin soldiers. It was perhaps due to this cannibalistic strategy that Fu Deng was able to fight on for eight years before finally being defeated and killed. All other cases of cannibalism during famine in the Age of Fragmentation were individual acts of desperation, and not government-directed. ************************************ There is also the infamous scene from SGYY wherein the poor farmer, lacking food to offer Liu Bei who has taken shelter at his home, cooks up his wife and serves her to LB for dinner. Later, when learning the truth about the meal, rather than being disgusted, LB is touched by the mans loyalty and weeps. What is striking is the way in which this sacrifice, within the context of the novel, is not portrayed in a negative light, but rather as an acceptable and commendable act of devotion to one's superiors. ************************************ In the book of the famous Qing dynasty scholar, Ji Xiao-lan, "Yue Wei Cao Tang Bi Ji" (The Notes of the Straw Hut of Yue Wei), Ji Xiao-lan recorded a lot of incidents of

cannibalism during Qing dynasty during his time (the time of Emperor Qianlong). Most of the times, these incidents happened during great starvations, but sometimes he did record people who actually preferred human flesh -- children and young women were the favorite providers for the human flesh. Some of the ways these people were killed were very cruel -- Although there were a few actual stories about the women cattle and I don't think he gave the accounts for this particular killing method done to babies or men, I think some of the men might be killed the same way. And I have no intention to describe the ways here. The book have translations, and you can get the detailed info from my other posts under the Chinese literature to get the name and ISBN# for the translated version, and you can read it yourselves. It is about lunch time where I am, and I sort of want to have an appetite to enjoy my lunch. ************************************ First, I would like to say that it would be horrible to have to eat someone simply to avoid starving to death. Second, Guan Yu, as to your question about culture and cannibalism, Chinese culture really didn't sanction the practice as an acceptable norm, although premodern people in virtually all cultures would not be as shocked about it as we would be today. I remember a phrase from the Song Dynasty about "two-legged mutton" being people as described in one of Jacques Gernet's books, but my professor Dr. Chang says to take this with a grain of salt, and realize the author of the comment was attempting to denigrate a certain regional cooking that was representative in the restaurants of the capital city. Also, I believe Yun's response has been sufficient. ************************************ Whereas I would agree with previous posters that cannibalism was not an acceptable practice in ancient China, there are quite a few instances, throughout history, of "ritual cannibalism", basically eating bits and pieces (typically the heart and liver) of defeated enemies. This seems to be connected to some kind of "warrior ethic", as you'd see this happening, consistently, among brigands, sometimes generals, or other people who live by the sword. Zhuangzi portrays Zhi the Brigand eating minced human liver for his lunch, a couple of former associates of Liu Bang get turned into minced meat, and similar references can be found in many Ming novels. I have read several sources which mention similar practices involving Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. ************************************ I should correct this after double-checking: Althoughdoes contain perhaps the earliest account of Zhu Can's cannibalism, the infamous line does not appear there. Instead it is in his biography in Jiu Tangshu chapter 56. That biography also states that his first act of cannibalism was steaming babies to feed his soldiers (who numbered about 200,000) during the famine caused by their raiding and looting; thereafter he ordered his men to cook and eat any women and children they caught, and also levied a tax in children (both male and female) from the cities and forts in the area of his control "to supplement his soldiers' grain". The people of the cities were so horrified by this tax that most of them fled to other areas. Eventually they banded together and defeated Zhu Can in a battle; he escaped with several thousand soldiers and sent an offer of surrender to the Tang regime (which was then also rebelling against the Sui government). Li Yuan sent Duan Que as an envoy to accept his surrender, but Duan got drunk at the banquet held in his honour and mocked Zhu Can, saying "I hear you eat people. How does it taste?" Zhu Can shot back saying "If you eat a drunkard he tastes just like pork cooked in wine dregs." Duan Que got angry and shouted, "You crazy rebel, now that you've surrendered you're no better than a slave. Let's see how you eat anyone

now!" Zhu Can got scared and seized Duan Que and the other members of his diplomatic team, and took refuge with Wang Shichong (another rebel warlord and a major rival of the Tang regime) at Luoyang. The Tang regime later captured him when Wang Shichong surrendered Luoyang, and executed him on the bank of the Luo River. The people of Luoyang were so disgusted by Zhu Can's cruelty that they gathered and threw roof tiles and stones at his corpse, until it was buried under a mound of tiles and stones. ********************************

Quote There is also the infamous scene from SGYY wherein the poor farmer, lacking food to offer Liu Bei who has taken shelter at his home, cooks up his wife and serves her to LB for dinner. Later, when learning the truth about the meal, rather than being disgusted, LB is touched by the mans loyalty and weeps. What is striking is the way in which this sacrifice, within the context of the novel, is not portrayed in a negative light, but rather as an acceptable and commendable act of devotion to one's superiors. What the novel hides by inventing this story is the fact that (according to Zizhi Tongjian) Liu Bei and his army were themselves forced to commit cannibalism (probably by eating their own dead) at one point after being defeated by Lu Bu and running out of food. They were finally rescued from this predicament by Mi Zhu, whose family was rich and was able to provide emergency supplies to the army by buying grain with its gold, silver, and jewelry.

Quote Whereas I would agree with previous posters that cannibalism was not an acceptable practice in ancient China, there are quite a few instances, throughout history, of "ritual cannibalism", basically eating bits and pieces (typically the heart and liver) of defeated enemies. This seems to be connected to some kind of "warrior ethic", as you'd see this happening, consistently, among brigands, sometimes generals, or other people who live by the sword. One interesting case is Hou Jing, the warlord whose rebellion against the Liang empire in the Age of Fragmentation nearly destroyed it. After he was killed, his corpse was displayed in the marketplace of the Liang capital, and the people who had suffered from his rebellion gathered in a free-for-all to eat pieces of his body, until not even the bones were left. The Liang princess whom he had forcibly married also joined in the feast...

************************************ As for "cannibalism during the Cultural Revolution," a translation of Liao Yiwu's articles is now on sale as The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories, China from the Bottom Up . One of them gives a detailed interview with "The Retired Official" who talks about rural cannibalism that arose during the famine that followed the disastrous Great Leap Forward in 1958. The article paints a picture of a situation that local officials hid from their seniors, when commune leaders turned over grain that peasants had saved for years in order to meet quotas. According to this report, in the one village discussed, only those who died of starvation were eaten, and only as a last resort by a desperate population. I should add, the book has been banned in China and the author was arrested repeatedly for his writing. You'll have to decide for yourself if the author is spreading malicious rumor and lurid stories or undertaking brave investigative reporting. If true, I don't think it's an episode that anyone would want to admit or recall. However, reports of cannibalism often accompany historical accounts of famines in all societies. ************************************** On the margins of cannibalism... Many Chinese doctors used human placenta (usually boiled until it was very soft) to treat depleted patients. A physician called Wu Qiu (who was active in the 1520s and 1530s) enthusiastically praised its virtues. As he said, it "cures all cases of wasting disorders and extreme fatigue in men and women, dian madness and xian seizures, as well as loss of mind and bewilderment; it appeases the Heart and nourishes Blood, benefits Qi and replenishes Essence" ( ). Wu explained that placenta contained xian tian zhi qi , a benefit that no other mineral or herbal drug could claim, and that it worked every time () as a Yin replenisher. Placenta was often called "Purple river-chariot" () because the best placentas were supposedly purple! The Mingshi also recorded how virtuous women would feed parts of their bodies (usually slices taken from their arms or thighs) to their starving parents or in-laws. Self-sacrifice of this sort was morally ambiguous, because even as it constituted the utmost expression of filiality, it could also be seen as the desecration of the body inherited from one's parents. Feeding parts of one's body to parents became a symbol of self-devotion, so not all accounts should be taken literally. ***************************************

At this time, besieged Suiyang had long been in a state of famine. The Old Book of Tang says: [1] (Yin Ziqi had besieged the city for a long time. The food in the city had run out. The dwellers traded their children to eat and cooked bodies of the dead. Fears were spread and worse situations were expected. At this time, Zhang Xun took his concubine out and killed her in front of his soldiers in order to feed them. He said, "You have

been working hard at protecting this city for the country wholeheartedly. Your loyalty is uncompromised despite the longlasting hunger. Since I can't cut out my own flesh to feed you, how can I keep this woman and just ignore the dangerous situation?" All the soldiers cried, and they did not want to eat. Zhang Xun ordered them to eat the flesh. Afterwards, they caught the women in the city. After the women were run out, they turned to old and young males. 20,000 to 30,000 people were eaten. People always remained loyal.) Xu Yuan also killed his servants, which was recorded in The New Book of Tang: ......[2] (...(Xu) Yuan also killed servants to feed the soldiers...) An explanation for people still staying loyal is accounted in The New Book of Tang: [2] (After the city was besieged for a long time, at the beginning, the horses were eaten. After horses ran out, they turned to the women, the old, and the young. 30,000 people in total were eaten. People knew their death was close, and nobody rebelled. When the city fell, only 400 people were left.) It is possible that all dead soldiers and civilians were also eaten after this incident.