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 Hanover: A Social History of Panic in Late Imperial China" by the American China studies expert Philip A. Kuhn, and the other is "Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error" by the French Annales School third-generation representative Lucien Febvre. In "The Specter of Hanover," 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 the study of witchcraft panic in Western Europe and attempted to apply new literary methods, hoping that through the analysis of the issue of "witch hunts," a new perspective on understanding the history of 16th and 17th-century Western Europe could be provided.