Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T15:46:52.198Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Religion and War in Traditional China

from Part I - Classical Foundations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2023

By
Barend ter Haar
Edited by
Margo Kitts
Margo Kitts
Affiliation:
Hawai'i Pacific University, Honolulu
Get access

Summary

All aspects of war in China were surrounded by religious activities, ranging from rituals to predict the future and guarantee success in war and the safety of its participants to rituals dealing with the bloody aftermath of war.

Keywords

divinationDeity of WarrebellionMandate of Heaven
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Religion and War , pp. 164 - 186
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baling xianzhi 巴陵縣志 (1804).Google Scholar
Birrell, Anne. 1993. Chinese Mythology: An Introduction. Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, Marcia. 2007. “Reflections of a Military Medium: Ritual and Magic in Eleventh and Twelfth Century Chinese Military Manuals.” PhD dissertation. Cornell University.Google Scholar
Butler, Marcia. 2008. “A Hidden Time, Hidden Space: Crossing Borders with Occult Ritual in the Song Military.” In Battlefronts Real and Imagined: War, Border, and Identity in the Chinese Middle Period. Edited by Wyatt, Don J.. Palgrave Macmillan. 111–149.Google Scholar
Butler, Marcia. 2016. “Mapping Culture: Battle Array Schemas (Zhentu) in Middle Period China.” Journal of Chinese Military History 5(1): 37–78.Google Scholar
Cahill, Suzanne E. 1980. “Taoism at the Sung Court: The Heavenly Text Affair of 1008.” Bulletin of Sung-Yüan Studies 16: 23–44.Google Scholar
Chen, Jinhua. 2017. “A ‘Villain Monk’ Brought Down by a Villein-General.” In Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China. Edited by Harry Rothschild, N. and Wallace, Leslie V.. University of Hawa`i Press. 208–230.Google Scholar
Ching, Julia. 2004. “Confucianism and Weapons of Mass Destruction.” In Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Religious and Secular Perspectives. Edited by Hashmi, Sohail H. and Lee, Stephen P.. Cambridge University Press. 246–269.Google Scholar
Cohen, Paul A. 1997. History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth. Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Copp, Paul F. 2018. The Body Incantatory: Spells and the Ritual Imagination in Medieval Chinese Buddhism. Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, Edward. 2001. Society and the Supernatural in Song China. University of Hawai`i Press.Google Scholar
Demiéville, Paul. 2010 [1957]. “Le bouddhisme et la guerre.” Translated as “Buddhism and War.” In Buddhist Warfare. Edited by Jerryson, Michael and Juergensmeyer, Mark. Oxford University Press. 17–57.Google Scholar
Dreyer, Edward L. 1982. Early Ming China: A Political History, 1355–1435. Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Durrant, Stephen W. Wai-yee, Li and Schaberg, David. 2016. Zuo Tradition = Zuozhuan: Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals. University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Esherick, Joseph. 1987. The Origins of the Boxer Uprising. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Fraser, Chris. 2016. “The Mozi and Just War Theory in Pre-Han Thought.” Journal of Chinese Military History 5(2): 135–175.Google Scholar
Galvany, Albert. 2015. “Signs, Clues and Traces: Anticipation in Ancient Chinese Political and Military Texts.” Early China 38: 151–193.Google Scholar
Graff, David A. 2002. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300–900. Routledge.Google Scholar
Gucheng xianzhi故城縣志 (1727).Google Scholar
Halperin, Mark. 1999. “Buddhist Temples, the War Dead, and the Song Imperial Cult.” Asia Major Third Series 12(2): 71–99.Google Scholar
Harper, Donald. 2017. “Daybooks in the Context of Manuscript Culture and Popular Culture Studies.” In Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China: The Daybook Manuscripts of the Warring States, Qin, and Han. Edited by Harper, Donald and Kalinowski, Marc. Brill. 91–137.Google Scholar
Harper, Donald and Kalinowski, Marc, eds. 2017. Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China: The Daybook Manuscripts of the Warring States, Qin, and Han. Brill.Google Scholar
Hashmi, Sohail H. and Lee, Steven P., eds. 2004. Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Religious and Secular Perspectives. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hejian fuzhi 河間府志 (1615).Google Scholar
Hejian xinzhi河間府新志 (1760).Google Scholar
Holm, David. 1994. “The Labyrinth of Lanterns: Taoism and Popular Religion in Northwest China.” Minjian xinyang yu zhongguo wenhua guoji yantaohui lunwenji民間信仰與中國文化國際研討會論文集. 797–852.Google Scholar
Ivanhoe, Philip J. 2004. “‘Heaven’s Mandate’ and the Concept of War in Early Confucianism.” In Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Religious and Secular Perspectives. Edited by Hashmi, Sohail H. and Lee, Steven P.. Cambridge University Press. 270–276.Google Scholar
Jerryson, Michael and Juergensmeyer, Mark, eds. 2010. Buddhist Warfare. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jiankang zhi 建康志 (1260–1264). 1990. Reprinted in Song Yuan fangzhi congkan 宋元方志叢刊. Zhonghua shuju.Google Scholar
Johnston, Alastair Iain. 1995. Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kang, David. 2014. “Why Was There No Religious War in Premodern East Asia?” European Journal of International Relations 20(4): 965–986.Google Scholar
Katz, Paul R. 2009. “Banner Worship and Human Sacrifice in Chinese Military History.” In The Scholar’s Mind: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Mote. Edited by Link, Perry. The Chinese University Press. 207–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keightley, David N. 2000. The Ancestral Landscape: Time, Space, and Community in Late Shang China, ca. 1200–1045 B.C. Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California.Google Scholar
Kern, Martin. 2009. “Bronze Inscriptions, the Shijing and the Shangshu: The Evolution of the Ancestral Sacrifice during the Western Zhou.” In Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD). Edited by Lagerwey, John and Kalinowski, Marc. Brill. 143–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleeman, Terry F. 2016. Celestial Masters: History and Ritual in Early Daoist Communities. Harvard University Asia Center.Google Scholar
Kominami, Ichirô. 2009. “Rituals for the Earth.” In Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD). Edited by Lagerwey, John and Kalinowski, Marc. Brill. 201–234.Google Scholar
Lagerwey, John. 2010. China: A Religious State. Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Lagerwey, John and Kalinowski, Marc, eds. 2009. Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD). Brill.Google Scholar
Lewis, Mark E. 2006. “The Just War in Early China.” In The Ethics of War in Asian Civilizations: A Comparative Perspective. Edited by Brekke, Torkel. Routledge. 185–200.Google Scholar
Licheng xianzhi 歷城縣志 (1628–1644).Google Scholar
Liji zhengyi. Li, Xueqin李學勤 / Gong, Kangyun 龔抗雲 / Lu, Guangming 盧光明, eds. 2000. Shisan jing zhushu, zhengliben十三經注疏, 整理本, Liji zhengyi 禮記正義. Beijing daxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Loewe, Michael. 1994. “Divination by Shells, Bones and Stalks.” In Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China. Edited by Loewe, Michael. Cambridge University Press. 160–190.Google Scholar
McMullen, David L. 1989. “The Cult of Ch’i T’ai-kung and T’ang Attitudes to the Military.” Tang Studies 7: 59–103.Google Scholar
Meulenbeld, Mark R. E. 2015. Demonic Warfare: Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel. University of Hawai`i Press.Google Scholar
MSL Ming shilu 明實錄 (Nangang: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, 1966).Google Scholar
Nedostup, Rebecca. 2017. “Burying, Repatriating, and Leaving the Dead in Wartime and Postwar China and Taiwan, 1937–1955.” Journal of Chinese History 1: 111–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poo, Mu-chou (Pu, Muzhou). 1998. In Search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion. State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Puett, Michael. 2009. “Combining the Ghosts and Spirits, Centering the Realm: Mortuary Ritual and Political Organization in the Ritual Compendia of Early China.” In Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD). Edited by Lagerwey, John and Kalinowski, Marc. Brill. 695–720.Google Scholar
Qicheng 齊乘 (1339). Reprinted in Song Yuan fangzhi congkan 宋元方志叢刊. Zhonghua shuju, 1990.Google Scholar
Rom, Avital Hedva, 2020. “Beat the Drums or Break Them: Bells and Drums as Communication Devices in Early Chinese Warfare.” Journal of Chinese Military History 9: 125–167.Google Scholar
Ruitenbeek, Klaas. 1999. “Mazu, the Patroness of Sailors, in Chinese Pictorial Art.” Artibus Asiae 58(3/4): 281–329.Google Scholar
Sawyer, Ralph D. 2009. “Martial Prognostication.” In Military Culture in Imperial China. Edited by Di Cosmo, Nicola. Harvard University Press. 45–64.Google Scholar
Shahar, Meir. 2008. The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts. University of Hawai`i Press.Google Scholar
Shanhua xianzhi 善化縣志 (1877).Google Scholar
Shiji Sima, Qian 司馬遷 (fl. 100 BCE). Shiji 史記. Zhonghua shuju, 1973.Google Scholar
Shizong zhupi Shizong xianhuangdi zhupi yuzhi世宗憲皇帝硃批諭旨. In Yingyin wenyuange siku quanshu景印文淵閣四庫全書. Shangwu yinshuguan, 1986.Google Scholar
Shuofang xinzhi 朔方新志 (1617; reprinted ca. 1670).Google Scholar
Songhuiyao jigao Xu, Song 徐松 (1781–1848), Songhuiyao jigao 宋會要輯稿. Zhonghua shuju, 1957.Google Scholar
Songjiang fuzhi 松江府志 (1512).Google Scholar
Stein, Rolf. 1979. “Religious Taoism and Popular Religion from the Second to Seventh Centuries.” In Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese Religions. Edited by Welch, H. and Seidel, A.. Yale University Press. 53–81.Google Scholar
Suishu Zheng, Wei魏徵 (580–643) and others. 1973. Suishu 隋書. Zhonghua shu ju.Google Scholar
Taiping guangji Li, Fang李昉 (925–996), Taiping guangji太平廣記. Zhonghua shuju, 1961.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 1992. The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History. E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 1998. The Ritual and Mythology of the Chinese Triads: Creating an Identity. E.J. Brill.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 2006. Telling Stories: Witchcraft and Scapegoating in Chinese History. Brill.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 2015. “The Sutra of the Five Lords: Manuscript and Oral Tradition.” Studies in Chinese Religions 1(2): 172–197.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 2017. Guan Yu: The Religious Afterlife of a Failed Hero. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 2018. “Rumours and Prophecies: The Religious Background of the Late Yuan Rebellions.” Studies in Chinese Religions 4(4): 382–418.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 2019. Religious Culture and Violence in Traditional China. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 2020a. “Giving Believers Back Their Voice: Agency and Heresy in Late Imperial China.” In Text and Context in the Modern History of Chinese Religions: Redemptive Societies and Their Sacred Texts. Edited by Clart, Philip and Ownby, David. Brill. 16–54.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 2020b. “A Word for Violence: The Chinese Term bao 暴.” Journal of Religion and Violence 8(3): 221–241.Google Scholar
ter Haar, Barend J. 2022. “Harmful Ancestors or Friendly Ghosts: Looking At Our Early Evidence on the Chinese Notion of gui 鬼.” Journal of Asian History 55: 269–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuttle, Gray. 2005. Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China. Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Waley-Cohen, Joanna. 2006. The Culture of War in China: Empire and the Military under the Qing Dynasty. I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Wilhelm, Hellmut, 1962. “From Myth to Myth: The Case of Yüeh Fei’s Biography.” In Confucian Personalities. Edited by Wright, A. F. and Twitchett, Dennis C.. Stanford University Press. 146–161.Google Scholar
Wright, Arthur Frederick. 1948. “Fo-t’u-têng: A Biography.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 11(3/4): 321–371.Google Scholar
Wyatt, Don J. 2008. “In Pursuit of the Great Peace: Wang Dan and the Early Song Evasion of the ‘Just War’ Doctrine.” In Battlefronts Real and Imagined: War, Border, and Identity in the Chinese Middle Period. Edited by Wyatt, Don. Palgrave Macmillan. 75–109.Google Scholar
Xianchun lin’an zhi咸淳臨安志 (1275–1274). Reprinted in Song Yuan fangzhi congkan 宋元方志叢刊. Zhonghua shuju, 1990.Google Scholar
Xin Tangshu Ouyang, Xiu歐陽修 (1007–1072), Xin Tangshu 新唐書. Zhonghua shuju, 1975.Google Scholar
Xingning xianzhi興寧縣志 (1875).Google Scholar
Xu, Zhuoyun and Linduff, Katheryn M., 1988. Western Chou Civilization. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Xuanhua xianzhi宣化縣志 (1736).Google Scholar
Yan, Changgui. 2017. “Daybooks and the Spirit World.” In Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China: The Daybook Manuscripts of the Warring States, Qin, and Han. Edited by Harper, Donald and Kalinowski, Marc. Brill. 207–247.Google Scholar
Yates, Robin D. S. 2005. “The History of Military Divination in China.” East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (EASTM) 24: 15–43.Google Scholar
Yates, Robin D. S. 2013. “Human Sacrifice and the Rituals of War in Early China.” In Sacrifices humains: Perspectives croisées et representations. Edited by Bonnechere, Pierre and Gagné, Renaud. Presses universitaires de Liège. Consulted at http://books.openedition.org/pulg/8173.Google Scholar
Yijianzhi Mai, Hong 洪邁. Yijian zhi 夷堅志. Zhonghua shuju, 1981.Google Scholar
Yu, Xue. 2010. “Buddhists in China during the Korean War (1951–1953).” In Buddhist Warfare. Edited by Jerryson, Michael and Juergensmeyer, Mark. Oxford University Press. 131–156.Google Scholar
Yucheng xianzhi 禹城縣志 (1808).Google Scholar
Yuxiang xianzhi 虞鄉縣志 (1880).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×