Up to the Yuan dynasty Cannibalism has been repeatedly recorded throughout
China's well-documented history. The sinologist Bengt Pettersson found references to more than three hundred different episodes of cannibalism in the
Official Dynastic Histories alone. Most episodes occurred in famine or war or were motivated by vengeance or
medical reasons. More than half of the episodes recorded in the Official Histories describe cases motivated by food scarcity during famines or in times of war. Pettersson observes that the records of such events "neither encouraged nor condemned" the consumption of human flesh under such circumstances, instead accepting it as an unavoidable way of "coping with a life-threatening situation". In other cases, cannibalism was an element of vengeance or punishment – eating the
hearts and
livers, or sometimes the whole bodies, of killed enemies was a way of further humiliating them and sweetening the revenge. Both private individuals and state officials engaged in such acts, especially from the 4th to the 10th century CE but, in some cases, until the end of imperial China in 1912. More than 70 cases are listed in the Official Histories alone. In warfare, human flesh could be eaten out of a lack of other provisions but also out of hatred against the enemy or to celebrate one's victory. Not just enemy fighters, but also their "servants and
concubines were all steamed and eaten", according to one account. At least since the
Tang dynasty (618–907), the consumption of human flesh was considered a highly effective medical treatment, recommended by the
Bencao Shiyi, an influential medical reference book published in the early 8th century, as well as in similar later manuals. Together with the ethical ideal of
filial piety, according to which young people were supposed to do everything in their power to support their parents and parents-in-law, this idea led to a unique form of voluntary cannibalism, in which a young person cut some of the flesh out of their body and gave it to an ill parent or parent-in-law for consumption. The majority of the donors were women, frequently daughters-in-law of the patient. The Official Histories describe more than 110 cases of such voluntary offerings between the early 7th and the early 20th century. While these acts were (at least nominally) voluntary and the donors usually (though not always) survived them, several sources also report of children and adolescents who were killed so that their flesh could be eaten for medical purposes. During the Tang dynasty, cannibalism was supposedly resorted to by rebel forces early in the period (who were said to raid neighbouring areas for victims to eat), and (on a large scale) by both soldiers and civilians during the
siege of Suiyang, a decisive episode of the
An Lushan Rebellion. Eating an enemy's heart and liver was also repeatedly mentioned as a feature of both official punishments and private vengeance. References to cannibalizing the enemy also appear in poetry written in the subsequent
Song dynasty (960–1279) – for example, in
Man Jiang Hong – although they are perhaps meant symbolically, expressing hatred towards the enemy. The Official Histories covering this period record various cases of rebels and bandits eating the flesh of their victims. Since this time, the euphemism "two-legged sheep/goat" (
兩腳羊 –
liǎngjiǎoyáng) was sometimes used to refer to humans who were eaten or intended to be eaten. The flesh of executed criminals was sometimes cut off and sold for consumption. During the Tang dynasty, a law forbade this practice, but whether the law was effectively enforced is unclear. The sale of human flesh is also repeatedly mentioned during famines in accounts ranging from the 6th to the 15th century. Several of these accounts mention that animal flesh was still available but had become so expensive that few could afford it. Dog meat was five times as expensive as human flesh, according to one such report. Sometimes, poor men sold their wives or children to butchers who slaughtered them and sold their flesh. Cannibalism in famine situations seems to have been generally tolerated by the authorities, who did not intervene when such acts occurred. Several accounts suggest that human flesh was occasionally eaten for culinary reasons. An anecdote told about
Duke Huan of Qi (7th century BCE) claims that he was curious about the taste of "
steamed child", having already eaten everything else. His cook supposedly killed his son to prepare the dish, and Duke Huan judged it "the best food of all". In later times, wealthy men, among them a son of the 4th-century emperor
Shi Hu and an "open and high-spirited" man who lived in the 7th century CE, served the flesh of purchased women or children during lavish feasts. The sinologist observes that while such acts were not common, they do not seem to have been rare exceptions; the hosts did not have to face ostracism or legal prosecution. Key Ray Chong even concludes that "learned cannibalism was often practiced ... for culinary appreciation, and exotic dishes [of human flesh] were prepared for jaded upper-class palates". The Official Histories mention 10th-century officials who liked to eat the flesh of babies and children, and during the
Jin dynasty (1115–1234), human flesh seems to have been readily available at the home of a general, who supposedly served it to one of his guests as a practical joke. Accounts from the 12th to 14th centuries indicate that both soldiers and writers praised this flesh as particularly delicious, considering especially children's flesh as unsurpassable in taste. Pettersson observes that people generally seem to have had fewer reservations about the consumption of human flesh than one might expect today. While survival cannibalism during famines was regarded as a lamentable necessity, accounts explaining the practice as due to other reasons, such as vengeance or filial piety, were generally even positive.
Ming and Qing dynasties Various reports from the early modern period indicate that cannibalism was still practised during famines when other provisions were exhausted. Especially during the chaotic
transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty in the 17th century, severe famines repeatedly led to cannibalism. During a famine in 1622, government troops took the providing of human flesh into their own hands, "openly butcher[ing] and [selling] people in a market where one
jin [] of flesh could be exchanged for one
liang [] of silver." Around 1640, a drought in
Henan and
Shandong became so bad that "women and babies were arrayed in the market as human food and were sold by the slaughterers just like mutton and pork." Sometimes, women and children were slaughtered in the back rooms of butcher shops while customers were waiting for fresh meat. A few years later in
Sichuan, "hundreds of the young and weak" were kidnapped, killed, and eaten; in the markets, men's flesh was sold at a somewhat lower price than that of women, which was considered tastier. Contemporary reports indicate that in
Shaanxi – located between Henan and Sichuan – cannibalism became so common in the early Qing period that the local government "officially sanctioned" the sale and consumption of human flesh. Butchers legally turned towards killing people sold to them and then "sell[ing] their meat"; human-based dishes were also served in restaurants. The
History of Ming, one of the Official Dynastic Histories that documented cannibalistic acts, accepted them as inevitable in bad times. "When driven towards dangers, what choices do they have?" it asked rhetorically about a famine in 1611, where people were "selling their daughters and sons, and eating their wives and children". Centuries later, during the
Taiping Rebellion in 1850–1864, "human flesh and organs" – gained by dismembering corpses or by butchering kidnapped persons – "were sold openly at the marketplace", and "some people killed their own children and ate them" to alleviate their hunger. Human hearts became a popular dish, according to some who afterwards freely admitted having purchased and enjoyed them.
Zeng Guofan, the general leading the army that suppressed the rebellion, confirmed the open sale of human flesh in his diary – once even complaining about its high price, which had risen again. Reports of cannibalism and the sale of human flesh during severe famines continued into the early 20th century, up to the final years of Imperial China. Various cases were reported during the
Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879, with eyewitnesses reporting the sale of human flesh in markets and butcher shops and various (unverified) rumours indicating that it might also have been served in restaurants. Outside of famines, the flesh of executed criminals was frequently sold for consumption, a traditional custom that lasted until the 19th century. The
indigenous population of
Taiwan (then known as Formosa)
repeatedly rebelled against Chinese rule. The Chinese army reacted drastically by not only killing suspected rebels but also sometimes eating and selling their flesh. The American journalist
James W. Davidson wrote: Newspaper reports also document the open sale of indigenous flesh. Robert des Rotours has interpreted these acts as due to "contempt for an inferior race", who were seen as so inferior that they could be treated like animals.
20th century to present Severe famine in Henan, Hubei and Anhui during the aftermath of the
1931 Chinese floods led to cannibalism in rural areas, as reported by officials, relief workers and missionaries. In 1936, a severe drought in Sichuan worsened by the
ongoing civil war led to a famine killing up to five million people and causing large-scale cannibalism. Human flesh became a traded commodity, with a higher black-market price charged for fresh flesh from a person killed for food compared to flesh from a corpse. Widespread cannibalism again occurred in Henan in the
Chinese famine of 1942–1943, during the Japanese invasion of China, as ecological disasters combined with war pressures led to mass starvation. Cannibalism is also documented to have occurred in rural China during the
severe famine that resulted from the
Great Leap Forward (1958–1962). During
Mao Zedong's
Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), local governments' documents revealed hundreds of incidents of cannibalism for ideological reasons, including large-scale cannibalism during the
Guangxi Massacre. Cannibal acts occurred at public events organized by local
Communist Party officials, with people taking part in them to prove their revolutionary passion. The writer Zheng Yi documented many of these incidents, especially those in
Guangxi, in his 1993 book,
Scarlet Memorial. Pills made of human flesh were said to be used by some
Tibetan Buddhists, motivated by a belief that mystical powers were bestowed upon those who consumed
Brahmin flesh. == Sumatra and Borneo ==