Demonological Poison (Gudu 蠱毒) and Cutting the Flesh [to Make Medicine] (Gegu割股): A History of Two Case Histories
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Andrew Schonebaum
Abstract
This paper investigates two secret practices in Late Imperial China. They relied upon secrecy for potency, but that secrecy also calls into question their reality. Whether or not they were “really” practiced, gegu, the preparation of medicinal soup out of one’s own flesh in order to cure a sick family member, and gudu, the painstaking creation of a super-poisonous creature-demon in order to kill and be rewarded with the valuables of an enemy, were both powerful notions. They were practices circumscribed by law, memorialized in official histories and imperial citations, but also about which stories were told and gossip circulated. These tales of secret practices reified specific fears while their narrative structures ameliorated those fears with plots and resolutions that bolstered societal norms. Both practices were widely discussed in all manner of texts until the first decades of the twentieth century.
Abstract
This paper investigates two secret practices in Late Imperial China. They relied upon secrecy for potency, but that secrecy also calls into question their reality. Whether or not they were “really” practiced, gegu, the preparation of medicinal soup out of one’s own flesh in order to cure a sick family member, and gudu, the painstaking creation of a super-poisonous creature-demon in order to kill and be rewarded with the valuables of an enemy, were both powerful notions. They were practices circumscribed by law, memorialized in official histories and imperial citations, but also about which stories were told and gossip circulated. These tales of secret practices reified specific fears while their narrative structures ameliorated those fears with plots and resolutions that bolstered societal norms. Both practices were widely discussed in all manner of texts until the first decades of the twentieth century.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- Structure and Meaning in the Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital 9
- Children and the Art of Medical Storytelling: Contemporary Practice and Hippocratic Case-taking Compared 31
- Storytelling in Greek Law Courts 49
- The Peripatetic Problems: Visions and Re-visions, That a Scholar Will Revise 67
- Thinking in Cases in Ancient Greek Mathematics 97
- Rhetoric, Treatment and Authority in the Medical Cases of Xiao Jing蕭京(1605–1672) 109
- Demonological Poison (Gudu 蠱毒) and Cutting the Flesh [to Make Medicine] (Gegu割股): A History of Two Case Histories 147
- Notes on Contributors 181
- Index Rerum Nominumque 183
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- Structure and Meaning in the Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital 9
- Children and the Art of Medical Storytelling: Contemporary Practice and Hippocratic Case-taking Compared 31
- Storytelling in Greek Law Courts 49
- The Peripatetic Problems: Visions and Re-visions, That a Scholar Will Revise 67
- Thinking in Cases in Ancient Greek Mathematics 97
- Rhetoric, Treatment and Authority in the Medical Cases of Xiao Jing蕭京(1605–1672) 109
- Demonological Poison (Gudu 蠱毒) and Cutting the Flesh [to Make Medicine] (Gegu割股): A History of Two Case Histories 147
- Notes on Contributors 181
- Index Rerum Nominumque 183
