Section: Culinary Cannibalism in Other Times

The dynastic histories reveal that human flesh was occasionally eaten by soldiers and rebels to celebrate a victory even when there was no food scarcity. In 868, after the conquest of Hao Prefecture (in today’s Anhui province), “the many servants and concubines [belonging to the subjugated officials and soldiers] were all steamed and eaten by the rebels.”43 A similar victory feast, combining rape with cannibalism, had been held in 337, during a chaotic period later remembered as “Sixteen Kingdoms” (304–439): “All those who were beautiful of the Buddhist nuns within the palace were violated and killed. Their flesh was cooked and eaten together with beef and mutton.”44

Another man who murdered beautiful women for culinary purposes was Shi Sui (d. 337), a son of Shi Hu (295–349), the emperor of Later Zhao, one of various short-lived kingdoms founded in northern China during that time. The emperor’s biographer tells that for some of the feasts given by Shi Sui, one or more of his concubines were “beheaded [and] sent to the kitchen to be cooked.” Their flesh was then served to the guests, while the “head was carefully cleaned [and] placed in plain view on the table or on the dish,” supposedly in order to demonstrate that the victim had not been ugly. Often the human flesh was served together with beef or mutton and the young host challenged his guests to identify which was which.45

Neither the guests nor the emperor—who was later remembered as a “notoriously cruel and ‘barbarous’ ruler”—seem to have objected to these banquets. A few years after taking power, Shi Hu had his son executed—not, however, because of his treatment of women, but because he was suspected of having plotted against the father.46

Shi Sui was not the only man who occasionally regaled his guests with human flesh. A writer from the Tang dynasty remembers that a wealthy man used to organize lavish feasts attended by “hundreds of guests” during the final years of the preceding Sui dynasty (581–618). For one of his feasts, “ten chefs were put to work boiling [not only] pigs and sheep,” but also “a pair of teenage twin brothers.” The novelist and journalist Zheng Yi concludes from this report that “the rich competed in wealth, a sport that included competition over cannibalism.” But the reaction of the guests renders this unlikely: apparently, they had not been told what they were eating, and when the “heads, hands, and feet” of the boiled children were presented after the meal, “everyone vomited.”47 Human flesh might have been eaten by some, but it was hardly a generally accepted food.

On the other hand, it is conceivable that the guests were shocked not so much by the serving of human flesh but by the realization that innocent children (slaves purchased by the wealthy host?) had been murdered to provide it. A folktale taking place during the same time treats the consumption of human body parts as a rather unremarkable occurrence. In this case, however, the involuntary provider is a man killed in an act of private revenge. In the tale, which describes the origins of the Tang dynasty, Li Shimin (598–649)—who would later become the second emperor of the new dynasty—meets another traveler in an inn. While they are drinking together, the traveler pulls a human heart and liver out of his bag, inviting Li Shimin to share them with him. He explains that they had belonged to “an ungrateful fellow on whom I have been keeping watch these ten years. Now I have caught him and worked off my resentment.”48

While eating the organs and drinking wine, the two men talk of other things, as if nothing unusual is happening. Earlier they had already dined on mutton, so hunger or a lack of meat cannot be the reason for the meal, and the future emperor does not bother to ask who the eaten man was or how he had wronged his acquaintance.49 The folktale, which was written down by Zhang Yue (667–730), leaves the impression that human flesh, when it happened to be at one’s disposal, could be eaten more or less like any other, without anyone making a great deal of the matter.

A detail in two of the official histories written about the same time suggests that even the hunting of people for food might not have been considered as altogether reprehensible, provided the victims were seen as primitive foreigners. The Liangshu (Book of Liang), completed in 635, writes in its section of “barbarian” peoples that, about ten thousand li (ca. 5000 kilometers) southwest of Japan “live the ocean people. They are naked and ugly with black skin and white eyes. Their flesh is delicious. Some travellers shoot and eat them.” The Nanshi (History of the Southern Dynasties), completed a few decades later, contains the same remark. Neither author expresses disapproval at the behavior of the “travellers” (whoever they were), and the statement “Their flesh is delicious” is recorded as an objective fact about the ocean people, as if it were enough to justify the killing of people who are otherwise merely characterized as naked, ugly, and black-skinned.50

The specified direction points approximately to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. On small islands and boats in that region live several peoples sometimes called “sea nomads,” among them the Orang Laut, a group of Malay people whose name literally means “sea peoples”—quite similar to the term “ocean people” used in the quoted history books. Cannibalism has been documented for Sumatra51 and some “sea nomads” might well have fallen victim to such acts.

One of the oldest surviving Chinese books, the Guanzi, also seems to show an ambivalent attitude towards cannibalism. The Guanzi has been traditionally attributed to Guan Zhong (d. 645 BCE), the chancellor of the early Chinese state of Qi, though actually at least large parts of it were written later.52 According to an anecdote told by the Guanzi about its purported author, Guan Zhong recommended Duke Huan, the ruler of Qi, to banish his cook, Yi Ya. “When you [Duke Huan] said that the only thing you had never tasted was steamed child, he [Yi Ya] thereupon cooked up his son’s head and presented it to you. It is human nature to love one’s children. If he does not love his son, how can he have any love for you?”53

While the cook was condemned for killing his own son in order to please the duke, the latter’s apparent curiosity about a “steamed child” is not criticized (at least not openly), and the whole incident seems to be treated rather as a gross violation of parental duties than as a breach of the rules of edibility.

The Tang dynasty was followed by a period of chaos and political division known as “Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms,” which lasted throughout a large part of the tenth century. The official histories later written about the era deplore the fact that some powerful men who “liked eating human flesh” resorted to doubtful or clearly illegal means to acquire it. Around the year 930, a military leader “secretly caught people’s babies for the purpose of eating them.”54 Thirty years later, “Chuyun released several tens of fat prisoners, and had his attendants eat them.” Another fifteen years later, a local ruler “forced families . . . to give away their sons and daughters to his officials. If there was the slightest thing about their behaviour that he was not satisfied with he would kill and eat them, collect their bones and throw them away in the wild.”55

A later account that indicates conflicting attitudes regarding the consumption of human flesh comes from the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). The Jin official Lieou K’i reports that, sometime during the period when the capital was in today’s Beijing (1153–1214), a general invited several other generals and their wives to a feast, regaling them with “pork and bread rolls.” When one of the women “told him that she usually did not eat pork,” he “hurried his servants to change the meat.” Later he asked her what kind of meat she had eaten. “Thanks to your favor, my share was changed to mutton which was excellent,” she replied, but he corrected her: “You didn’t [want to] eat pork but you have eaten human flesh. What do you think of that?” When she realized that she had involuntarily become a cannibal, the woman “was so appalled that she was sick for several days.”56

The episode shows an ambivalent stance to the eating of human flesh. Many people—represented here by the woman—clearly disapproved of it; the general served the flesh to her out of spite since he was annoyed at her rejection of the offered food. On the other hand, portions of human flesh ready to be served were available in the general’s house (or possibly on a nearby market), indicating that there were some who chose to eat it.

In the subsequent Yuan dynasty, cannibal acts with a notably culinary side were recorded among soldiers, as we have seen in the preceding section. Afterwards references to culinary cannibalism disappear from the historical records, at least as recorded by Chinese sources. Some later acts of war cannibalism, such as those recorded by James Davidson,57 also seem to have a culinary aspect. While contempt and hatred for the vanquished certainly played a part here, that alone could hardly explain why their flesh was traded and seemingly eaten as a rare delicacy even among some of the wealthy, who were certainly not motivated by hunger.