China was no less violent than any other society in the early modern age. Like Europe, late imperial China had its fair share of wars of empire and peasant rebellions, as well as violent crimes of murder, assault, rape and robbery.
While idealistic Confucian gentlemen abhorred violence as uncivilised behaviour that disrupted harmony and social order, the reality of life in China was quite different. There was in fact a ubiquitous culture of violence that permeated to the core of society and was an intrinsic part of people's lives and mentalite.
Violence that was both real and symbolic seemed unavoidable; it infringed upon the lives of everyone in street fights, bloody sports and amusements, operatic and martial arts performances, religious rituals, folklore, and public floggings and executions. What may have seemed senseless and irrational to China's educated elites was perhaps perfectly reasonable and purposeful to other members of society, especially those of the lower orders. The culture of violence had a logic of its own, distinct from and in opposition to the socio-cultural norms of elite society. For the overwhelming majority, violence was an accepted fact of life.This chapter, which is based on historical and literary documents as well as on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in south China by the author over the past fifteen years, examines early modern China's culture of violence through the lenses of public spectacles - rock fights, cockfights, exorcisms, flagellation, floggings and executions. To understand the nature and widespread acceptance of violence we need to look beyond the mere acts themselves to examine its deeper social and cultural meanings. Violence must be understood on its own terms and within the context of the lives of Chinese people themselves. My focus is on south China - Guangdong, Fujian and Taiwan - from the sixteenth to early nineteenth centuries.
Map 31.1 Coastal south China, c. 1800.