Soulstealers

The book tells the story of a golden age of witchcraft during the Qing Dynasty. Hysteria spreads across China during the reign of Hongli, and there are rumors of sorcerers that snip off men's hair queues. Tracing the scare back to the core of Qing political and social life, the book studies the spring to autumn of 1768 in which many believed "soulstealers" roamed the land. The cutting off of the queue, then seen as an act of witchcraft given beliefs that the hairstyle imbued the wearer with supernatural powers, was later interpreted to be a sign of Manchurian dissent.  A style which involved the shaving of hair on the temples and a longer pigtail, the witchcraft scare was viewed as giving rise to later dissent movements.