Wizard (the "devil" of the mortal world)

Author: Lu Qihong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: Writing this book was influenced by two works. One is "The Specter of Specters: A Social History of Chinese Sorcery and Superstition in the Late Eighteenth Century" by the American sinologist Philip A. Kuhn, and the other is "Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error, 1294–1324" by the French Annales School third-generation representative Lucien Febvre. In "The Specter of Specters," Kuhn analyzes the political system of China during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty through a witchcraft case, revealing a chronic ailment in the Chinese political system—the conflict between the emperor and the bureaucratic apparatus. In "Montaillou," Febvre depicts the daily life of a mountain village in southern France between 1294 and 1324 by analyzing the interrogation records of the Inquisition. It was precisely under the influence of these two books that I became dedicated to understanding and researching the witchcraft panics in Western Europe, and I attempted to apply new literary methods, hoping that through the analysis of the issue of "witch hunts," a new perspective could be provided for understanding the history of 16th and 17th-century Western Europe.