Download or read book Soulstealers written by Philip A KUHN and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Midway through the reign of the Ch'ien-lung emperor, Hungli, mass hysteria broke out among the common people. It was feared that sorcerers were roaming the land, clipping off the ends of men's queues (the braids worn by royal decree) and chanting magical incantations over them in order to steal the souls of their owners. In a fascinating chronicle of this epidemic of fear and the official prosecution of soulstealers that ensued, Philip Kuhn opens a window on the world of eighteenth-century China.