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Headhunting in ancient China: the history of violence and denial of knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2018

Olivia Milburn
Olivia Milburn*
Affiliation:
Seoul National University
*
milburn@snu.ac.kr
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Abstract

Headhunting has a long and well-documented history in China, but most people are today unaware of this practice, first recorded in Shang oracle bones and regularly mentioned in ancient Chinese texts until the Han dynasty. This ignorance is because headhunting subsequently came to be seen as a barbaric practice and knowledge concerning its long history was destroyed: this was achieved by inventing a new character, guo 聝, which means “to cut the ear of a dead enemy combatant” and using this to replace (and thus confuse meanings with) an older character guo 馘, which refers specifically to headhunting. Ancient texts in which headhunting practices are documented have been misunderstood and misrepresented by imperial era scholars to prevent anyone from seeing that ancient China was a headhunting culture. This study shows how dominant cultural norms can impact on the way in which texts are read.

Keywords

HeadhuntingOracle bonesHistory of violenceEmperor Wu of HanHan dynastyChina
Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 103 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2018 

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