[Youtube] Cannibalism in Ancient China

 Cannibalism in Ancient China 

China is a country with thousands of years of history and throughout most of its history China was ravaged with plagues famine and warfare resulting in millions of deaths in conjunction with that it is not rare to stumble upon historical records of people in china eating human flesh. sometimes out of desperation during war and famine times. 

*Cannibalism In Ancient China 

eating human flesh no matter what the reason sounds ridiculous but there are many bloody records of cannibalism in Chinese history. this video will talk about several examples of cannibalism in ancient china.

*Han Dynasty (202 BC ~ 220 AD)

1.The second year of Emperor Han Gaozu (205 BC)- "People eat each other, and more than half of them dead"

2.The third year of Emperor Han Wudi (138 BC)- "The river overflowed in the plain, famine, and people eat one another"

3.The first year of the Emperor Han Yuandi (48 BC)-"The eleven great waters, starvation, lack of food for people in Guandong County."

4.In the Second year of Emperor Han Chengdi(15 BC)-"Pingyuan County, people eat one another."

6.The first year of Emperor Han Chengdi(15BC)-"Pingyean County, people eat one another."

7.Third year of Emperor Han Lingdi(170AD)-"Henei women eat their husbands while Henan men eat wives."

8.The Second Year of Emperor Han Xiandi (197AD)-"The people in Jianghuai eat one another."

Talking the Han Dyansty as an example we can see all these frightening written records of cannibalism as mentioned in the List in the video. as you can see from the recorded dates, It it evident that cannibalism occurs rather frequently during the Han dynasty. the main reason for the occurrence of this cruel phenomena is famine. Ancestral trauma is speculated to be inherited maybe that's why many Chinese nowadays are naturally skinny even though their food is off big portions. 

*An Lushan Rebellion (755~763CE)

    36 Million dead (20% of world population)

there are also some manifacotrs for cannibalism to occur the most obvious being war. During the Tang dynasty's infamous An Lushan rebellion which caused the death of approximately 36 million people roughly 20% of the world's population. The troops of 'Zhang Xun' and 'Xu Yuan' were surrounded by the troops of An Lushan in suing city. Later because of being surrounded by enemies for too long everything was eaten crickets horse mice sparrows etc were all eaten when no animals were left everyone exchanged children to eat they can't bear to eat their own children so they exchanged Zhang Xun killed his wife when there no children left. so starting from eating Zhang Xun's wife. everyone tried their best to eat women. when all women were eaten, man were eaten next. 

* Suiyang poulation

    60,000 people > few hundred people

There were a total of sixty thousand people in Suiyang City when An Lushen finally broke through into the city. only a few hundred people were left. 

* Tang Dynasty (618AD~917AD)

    Yang Xingmi / Food supply to Guangling City cut off.

    Women and children were tied up and brought to the market to sell them. After the butcher buys it, he slaughters the meat like cattle and sheep to make money. It was recorded that human meat were sold at a cheaper price than dog meat during this period. (886 AD)

In the Tang Dynasty yang Xingmi's forces surrounded Guangling City for half of a year. cutting the food supply into the city the people in the city are too hungry so the army publicly caught people and sold them. tied them up and killed them like pigs this is another cruel example women and children were tied up and brought to the market to be sold. After the butcher buys it, he slaughters the meat like cattle and sheep to make money. It was recorded that human meat were sold at a cheaper price than dog meat during this period.

* Qing Dynasty (1644AD~1912AD)

Luo Soju's troops lack rations and food. Therefore, they killed their prisoners and captives for meat to consume. (1801 AD) - Lou Siju

During the Qing Dynasty in 1801AD Luo Soju's troops lacked rations and food therefore they killed their prisoners and captives for their meat to consume this solved his troops issue of lacking food to eat such cases of killing captives for their meat is not uncommon in Chinese History. There were also plenty of claims that mention that human flesh tastes very similar to pork and its texture is indistinguishable from pork. Personally I never eaten human flesh so I cannot justify whether this is true. 

When Wang Mang(45BC~23AD) was killed, dozens of people rushed to eat him. His tongue was eaten raw without cooking.

When You Jing(503~552AD) was killed as a punishment for rebellion, his dead body was stuffed with salt, chopped into pieces and displayed publicly before being consumed by his enemies.

Emperor Yang of the Sui Daynasty(569~618AD) cooked the rebel Hu Sizheng to death and distributed the meat to hundreds of officials.

Some other examples of cannibalism in ancient China include cases of revenging against the enemy when Wang Mang of the Han Dynasty was killed dozens of people rushed to eat him his tongue was eaten raw without cooking. when hoojing was killed as a punishment for rebellion his dead body was stuffed with salt. chopped into pieces and displayed publicly before being consumed by his enemies. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty cooked the rebel Hu Sizheng to death and distribute the meat to hundreds of officials to be eaten. 

*The Story of the Three-Headed Tomb

Warrior presented dead son's head to king

King makes 'human head soup'

Warrior chops king's head

Warrior chops his own head

all three head are now cooked in the 'human head soup'

These are several examples of cannibalism out of many in China Caused by hater. Here is another famous Chinses Legend. Legend says that the king of the Kingdom of Chu asked an iron smith to make a sword. but the iron smith could not finish it in three years. He then found out that the iron smith made 2 swords instead of one without informing the king. So, he went to kill the iron smith. The wife of the iron smith gave birth to a son and the son always wanted to revenge by killing the king. The king got the news and granted money to whoever that can kill the son, one day the son met the warrior. The warrior told him that he can revenge for him but needs his head. So the son chopped down his own head to warrior the warrior then presented the hit to the king and the king was very happy. And they planned to eat the head. But, he was told that the head must be cooked in a pot until it is rotten to prevent the spirit from becoming revengeful. So they put the son's head into the pot to cook. Oddly, the head cannot be cooked until rotten. so the King was invited to take a look. once the king was near the pot, the warrior chopped down the king's head, and then the head dropped into the pot. The guards came near and the warrior chopped his own head. his head dropped into the pot too. so, the three heads then rot in the broth and no one identify who is who. so the three heads were buried in a tomb together. The tomb is now situated in Hernan Province(허난성or Henan?) and now a tourist attraction. 

*Chen Zangqi(about 687~757 years) Chinese medicine specialist from the Tang Dynasty and write ten volume of the <Gleaning Herb> in 739.

In addition to that there is another special example for the purpose of cannibalism which is to cure diseases. it turns out that in Chinses tradition there is a superstition that when a person is sick and he wants to get well. He must eat the flesh of his or her own relatives this kind of belief is that human flesh can cure the disease. A man named Chen Zangqi in the Tang Dynasty wrote a medical book which pointed out that human flesh can cure diseases since then the claims slowly spread and ordinary uneducated people who are dumb enough to believe it really believe this claim. 

*Filial Piety: Cut your own flesh to be consumed as medicine by a sick elder relative.

When parents were sick folios sons and daughters-in-law will come out and cut the meat on their thinghs with a knife. they believe that the flesh of one's own body can be a little help to the illness of their relatives that's cannibalism with good intentions. 

*Yuan Dynasty (1271~1368AD)

Qin sisters in Henan wanted to cure their sick father. One sister cut out her brain, and the other sister cut off the thighs. Brain juice is used to cook porridge.

Then in the mongol rule Yuen Dynasty there were also examples of this kind of act. the history of the Yuan Dynasty records that the Qin sisters in Henan wanted to cure their sick father. one sister cut out her own brain and the other sister cut off her thighs. Brain juice is used to cook medicine and thigh meat is used to cook porridge.

*Hu Banlv cut his own meat to cure his father's heart disease. 

Also, during the Yuan dynasty there were examples of cutting the flesh to treat illnesses for relatives the man who cut his own meat his own flesh to cure his father's heart disease was named Hu Banlv. He did successfully cure his father's disease but whether this recovery is due to the consumption of human meat was unknown this kind of behavior was rewarded and encouraged by the government he was given five pieces of silk two goats and one paddy field by the government for his selfless action. 

*The traditional Chinese concept of "filial piety" is that a person's body, hair, and skin are all passed on to him by his parents, and he cannot destroy them. - Zeng Shen

Although the motive of cutting your own flesh as a sacrifice to be eaten is considered filial piety. It is in conflict with the traditional Chinese concept of philiopaiti. The Traditional Chinese concept of philiopaity is that a person's body hair and skin are all passed on to him by his parents and he cannot destroy them. The most famous representative of this behavior is Zeng Shen's disciple of Confucius. Before Zeng Shen died, he tremblingly checked his whole body and found that all his nails and limbs are intact nothing was destroyed and he felt worthy of his parents and then he died with confidence. 

*Three Kingdoms Period(220~280AD) - Xia Houdun

Another famous example is a general Xia Houdun during the three kingdoms period. legend has it that he was shot by an arrow in his eye when he was fighting in a war. when he quickly pulled it out all of his eyeball were pulled out and he yelled at the time "the body was given by mom and dad. so I can't throw it away so I will eat this eyeball into my belly", He said. And then he ate his own eyeball. 

*Jin Wengong and Jie Zhitui

some of the examples of flesh cutting for eating are not limited to treating illnesses for loved ones some have political effects thus indirectly affecting history. In the spring and autumn period, Jin Wengong was in exile his minister Jie Zhitui cut off the meat from his hat and gave it to Jin Wengong to eat. when they ran out of food as a sign of trust and loyalty. 

*Emperor Xianfeng of Qing

*Empress Dowager Ci'an / Empress Dowager Cixi

Another example of the political role of cannivalism was during the Qing dynasty around emperor Xianfeng's reign. Emperor's daughter Cixi is the wife of emperor Xianfeng. But, she is not the eldest wife. The eldest wife is the empress dodger Sudan legend has it that before the death of emperor samfong. he was afraid that Ci'an would be bullied by Cixi. He especially gave Sudan a secret order saying that if Cixi bullied anyone she could be killed. After emperor Xianfeng's death, Cixi respected Ci'an very much her purpose was to deceive Ci'an and make Ci'an destroy the secret order. One day Ci'an became ill and Cixi cut off a piece of meat from her arm to boil as medicine and gave it to Ci'an to eat. Ci'an felt very touched thinking that Cixi was simply like her own sister. why did she have to make secret orders for her sisters. So Ci'an decided to burn the secret order who would have thought that Ci'an would burn the secret order and Cixi would easily deceive her in her fight for power. Later, It is said that Ci'an died suddenly and was poisoned by Cixi. After all, all of this was caused by cannibalism at that time.

from: Cannibalism in Ancient China, Youtube - Joe Onn, URL: https://youtu.be/p2K6kMROibg .

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