Demon Eaters and Bloody Charms
Avron A. Boretz
Wiley eBooks August 21, 2026 DOI: 10.1002/9781394250592.ch34 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that blood sacrifice, spirit possession, exorcism, and martial arts-themed performances are fundamental to Chinese popular religion, serving both to protect communities from malevolent spiritual forces and to consolidate local group solidarity competitively. Contends that elite and state authority has long had a fraught relationship with these practices, alternating tolerance with suppression and co-optation, yet ritual violence remains a durable, meaning-generating part of Chinese cultural imagination. |
Abstract
Ritual violence and violent ritual are fundamental constituents of Chinese popular religion. Drawing on historical and ethnographic sources and original research, this chapter highlights the ways that blood sacrifice, spirit possession, exorcism, and martial arts-themed performances have served both to protect communities from malevolent spiritual forces and to competitively consolidate local group solidarity. The relationship between such popular religious practices and elite/state authority, however, has always been fraught, with long periods of grudging tolerance interspersed with episodes of official suppression along with attempts to coopt practitioners and repurpose ritual practices to serve elite/official goals and values. Despite recent efforts at regulation and repackaging, the representations, narratives, and kinetic language of ritual violence embodied in the practice of Chinese popular religion continue to durably constitute an integral and meaning-generative component of the Chinese cultural imagination.