DrowningGirlsChinaDSRPBK.qxd 6/10/08 1:27 PM Page 1 MUNGELLO Asian History • Human Rights DROWNING GIRLS “Shocking, yet highly informative. Mungello has taken the most difficult and per- DROWNING GIRLS IN CHINA sonal of topics—female infanticide—and with thorough research and thoughtful consideration has given us a historical account of the practice in China. In recent IN CHINA centuries Westerners, mostly missionaries, reacted to it for their own motives. Roman Catholics’ desires to baptize moribund infants and to publicize the practice as a means for fund-raising caused them to see infanticide quite differently from Protestants, many of whom denied it existed.A must-read for those interested in the issue in its past and current manifestations.” —Kathleen L. Lodwick, Penn State Lehigh Valley Female Infanticide since 1650 “Professor Mungello’s important study focuses on the specific and at times widespread phenomenon of female infanticide in China. He is to be congratulated for having expertly tackled a sensitive issue that has hitherto received scant scholarly attention.” —R. G. Tiedemann, Centre for the Study of Christianity in China, King’s College London Female InfanticideFemale since 1650 This groundbreaking book offers the first full analysis of the long-neglected and controversial subject of female infanticide in China. Drawing on little-known Chinese documents and illustrations, noted historian D. E. Mungello describes the causes of female infanticide and its persistence for two thousand years. D. E. Mungello is professor of history at Baylor University. For orders and information please contact the publisher Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 1-800-462-6420 LITTLEFIELD ROWMAN & www.rowmanlittlefield.com ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-5531-0 ISBN-10: 0-7425-5531-3 Cover illustration:“Woman Li” from Ho-tong-tse, Zhengying baoying lu (reprinted 1869), reproduced in Palatre, L’infanticide. A translation of the Chinese characters reads,“Those who assist D. E. MUNGELLO in the drowning of infant girls destroy their own posterity.” Drowning Girls in China Drowning Girls in China Female Infanticide since 1650 D. E. Mungello ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2008 by D. E. Mungello All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mungello, David E., 1943– Drowning girls in China : female infanticide since 1650 / D.E. Mungello. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-5530-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7425-5530-5 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-5531-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7425-5531-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) e-ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-5732-1 e-ISBN-10: 0-7425-5732-4 1. Infanticide—China—History. I. Title. HV6541.C45M86 2008 304.6’680951 2008002614 Printed in the United States of America ϱ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Contents List of Illustrations vii Maps xi China in the Late Qing Dynasty Southern Jiangsu Province Map of Shanghai in 1867 Preface xv 1 Female Infanticide 1 Infanticide in World History 1 Infanticide in China 4 A Subject or a Sensibility? 7 2 Female Infanticide in Nineteenth-Century China 9 Causes and Forms of Infanticide 9 Buddhism and Daoism in Popular Morality Literature 14 Confucianism in Popular Morality Literature 31 Popular Broadsheets and Newspapers 37 3 Official and Literati Efforts to Combat Infanticide 45 Early Official Efforts to Combat Infanticide 45 Early Qing Literati Efforts to Assist Abandoned Children 47 Literati Foundling Hospices 48 Confucian Arguments against Female Infanticide 52 Nineteenth-Century Infant Protection Societies 55 v vi Contents 4 Infanticide Deniers 63 Denial in History 63 Protestant Missionary Infanticide Deniers 65 Knowledgeable Protestant Missionary Observers 70 5 The European Cult of Chinese Children 77 Infanticide Deniers in Europe 77 The Holy Childhood and the Cult of the Child 80 Creating a Foreign Island in China 89 The Jesuit Response to Infanticide Deniers 93 6 Christian Mission Efforts to Aid Foundlings 99 Seventeenth-Century Efforts to Save Exposed Children 99 Eighteenth-Century Christian Foundling Hospices 102 Catechists and Christian Virgins 107 Nineteenth-Century Catholic Efforts 111 7 Female Infanticide in Modern China 117 8 Conclusion 127 Bibliography 131 Notes 141 Index 157 About the Author 169 Illustrations Map 1 China in the late Qing dynasty divided into its eighteen provinces (ca. 1878) xi Map 2 Southern Jiangsu Province (ca. 1878) xii Map 3 Map of Shanghai in 1867, showing the original remoteness of Zikawei xiii Figure 2.1 Tribunal secretary He Yingyuan is punished after starving his daughters (nineteenth century) 16 Figure 2.2 Mrs. Xu is punished for drowning two daughters by giving birth to a monster (1860) 18 Figure 2.3 A nineteenth-century broadsheet variation on the story of a woman giving birth to a monster in karmic retribution for drowning her daughters 19 Figure 2.4 Another nineteenth-century broadsheet variation on the story of a woman giving birth to a monster in karmic retribution for drowning her daughters 19 Figure 2.5 The Buddhists Zhang Da and his wife Ye are punished for drowning three daughters by being reincarnated as animals (nineteenth century) 21 Figure 2.6 Woman Liu is punished for drowning two daughters by having their demonic reincarnations attack her breasts (nineteenth century) 23 Figure 2.7 Farmer woman Du is punished for profiting from the drowning of little girls by being attacked by a tiger (nineteenth century) 24 vii viii Illustrations Figure 2.8 The bad midwife Liu is punished for drowning little girls (nineteenth century) 25 Figure 2.9 The good midwife Li is rewarded for saving newborn girls (nineteenth century) 27 Figure 2.10 Mrs. Li is punished for helping her neighbor drown two daughters (nineteenth century) 28 Figure 2.11 Mrs. Zhuang is rewarded for persuading her neighbor not to drown her daughter (nineteenth century) 29 Figure 2.12 Mrs. Lin is rewarded for intervening to save her neighbor’s daughter from being drowned (nineteenth century) 30 Figure 2.13 A broadsheet variation on the theme of a good neighbor woman intervening with food and money to prevent the drowning of a newborn girl (nineteenth century) 31 Figure 2.14 The literatus Peng Zhuangyuan is rewarded for his work in combating female infanticide (nineteenth century) 33 Figure 2.15 The examination candidate Huang Guilin is punished for hindering efforts to save girls from infanticide (nineteenth century) 34 Figure 2.16 The god of literature rewards the examination candidate Wang Xuan for his work in combating female infanticide (nineteenth century) 36 Figure 2.17 A broadsheet variation on the theme of a good midwife being rewarded for intervening with money and rice to prevent the drowning of a baby girl (nineteenth century) 40 Figure 2.18 A broadsheet depiction of how a son’s tears and pleading saved his newborn sister from being drowned (nineteenth century) 42 Figure 2.19 A broadsheet illustration of the shopkeeper Chen Da and his wife suffering the loss of their four sons as punishment for drowning their four daughters (nineteenth century) 43 Figure 3.1 Famine in the wake of the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) caused parents to drown newborn girls by throwing them into the lakes and streams 57 Figure 5.1 A medallion image of the Society of the Holy Childhood featuring Jesus surrounded by children of different skin colors (1846–1849) 81 Illustrations ix Figure 5.2 A membership card in Dutch issued in 1858 by the Society of the Holy Childhood (H. Kindsheid) portraying Catholic clerics and European children saving abandoned Chinese infants 85 Figure 5.3 A membership card in Latin issued ca. 1850 by the Society of the Holy Childhood (Societas Sanctae Infantiae) portraying European children saving abandoned Chinese infants from being eaten by a pig and dog 86 Map 1. China in the late Qing dynasty divided into its eighteen provinces (ca. 1878) Map 2. Southern Jiangsu Province (ca. 1878) Map 3. Map of Shanghai in 1867, showing the original remoteness of Zikawei. The latter is found on the upper left with the label “Jesuit College Zikawei.” Four miles of open country and orchards separated the city of Shanghai from Zikawei. This open area was eventually filled in by the expansion of Shanghai. Adapted from the map in William Frederick Mayers, N. B. Dennys, and Charles King, The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (London: Trübner and Co., 1867). Preface he killing of little girls in Chinese history presents a case of such help- Tless victims of atrocity that it cries out for identifying the culprits. But history, like people, is complicated. Female infanticide is one of the most controversial of historical topics. It is a topic that generates strong reac- tions from many sides and for many reasons. There is the sensitivity of the Chinese people with their long history of civilization. There is the politi- cal embarrassment and defensiveness of the Chinese government, whose restrictive birth-control policies since 1979 have revived female infanti- cide and the abandonment of girls.