Demonic Warfare: Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel

Revealing the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcist, martial rituals in the vernacular language, Mark Meulenbeld argues that a specific type of Daoist exorcism helped shape vernacular novels in the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Focusing on the once famous novel Fengshen yanyi (“Canonization of the Gods”), the author maps out the general ritual structure and divine protagonists that it borrows from much older systems of Daoist exorcism.

By exploring how the novel reflects the specific concerns of communities associated with Fengshen yanyi and its ideology, Meulenbeld is able to reconstruct the cultural sphere in which Daoist exorcist rituals informed late imperial “novels.” He first looks at temple networks and their religious festivals. Organized by local communities for territorial protection, these networks featured martial narratives about the powerful and heroic deeds of the gods. He then shows that it is by means of dramatic practices like ritual, theatre, and temple processions that divine acts were embodied and brought to life. Much attention is given to local militias who embodied “demon soldiers” as part of their defensive strategies. Various Ming emperors actively sought the support of these local religious networks and even continued to invite Daoist ritualists so as to efficiently marshal the forces of local gods with their local demon soldiers into the official, imperial reserves of military power.

This unusual book establishes once and for all the importance of understanding the idealized realities of literary texts within a larger context of cultural practice and socio-political history. Of particular importance is the ongoing dialog with religious ideology that informs these different discourses. Meulenbeld's book makes a convincing case for the need to debunk the retrospective reading of China through the modern, secular Western categories of “literature,” “society,” and “politics.” He shows that this disregard of religious dynamics has distorted our understanding of China and that “religion” cannot be conveniently isolated from scholarly analysis.

• Mark R. E. Meulenbeld, Author

  Mark R. E. Meulenbeld is assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he teaches Chinese religion with a focus on Daoism.

• There is much to admire in Meulenbeld’s meticulous delineation of the interrelationship between Canonization’s narrative of the righteous triumph of the Zhōu kings and the combat Daoist ritualists waged against demonic adversaries through ritual performance. Meulenbeld also is to be commended for elaborating the significance of violence and martial values in the construction of imperial China’s civil order.
  —Journal of Chinese Religions
• With his Demonic Warfare: Daoism, Territorial Networks, and the History of a Ming Novel, Mark Meulenbeld provides an inspiring study of the fundamental continuities that exist between vernacular fiction and exorcistic, martial rituals in the vernacular language. It deserves a permanent place on the bookshelves of scholars in the fields of Daoist studies, Chinese fiction, Chinese popular religion, and Ming history. . . . Demonic Warfare opens up new ways of understanding and interpreting the Ming novel in particular and religion and literature in general. . . . Meulenbeld’s Demonic Warfare is rich in detail and comprehensive in its treatment of larger issues and themes in Daoist studies, Chinese fiction, Chinese popular religion, and Ming history. It also contributes to the field of Religion and Literature Study. The book is extremely successful in inspiring intellectual curiosity and in providing a basis for further research on the issues mentioned above.
  —Review of Religion and Chinese Society
• This important new work puts forth arguments concerning primarily three subjects: the novel Fengshen yanyi 封神演義(Canonization of the Gods), the cultural context of the Ming vernacular novel, and the relationship of Daoism and popular religion. . . . Meulenbeld’s style is excellent throughout and the copy-editing meticulous, making this a highly readable and closely argued book.
  —Etudes Asiatiques
• A highly innovative and compelling reading of the cultural nexus of ritual, community, and the novel in modern Chinese history. This tour de force of interpretive analysis reveals the structural links between the battle of cosmological forces within exorcistic Daoist rituals that protect Chinese villages, and the key themes and conflicts of major classical novels.
  —Kenneth Dean, McGill University
• Meulenbeld’s book is an important contribution to the study of Chinese literature, religion, and violence. It combines a sophisticated and original theoretical approach with careful textual analysis of a wide range of primary sources and is essential reading for anyone interested in the religion and culture of late-imperial China.
  —Meir Shahar, Tel Aviv University