Chinese ‘witches’ band together after rural communities ostracise them
Belief in witches runs rampant in some rural Chinese communities, a new study shows – and those who are accused of witchcraft are having to band together to survive.
In one rural farming community in southwestern China, 13.7 per cent of the population have been labelled “zhu,” or “witches,” by their neighbours, according to a new paper published on January 8 in Nature Human Behaviour.
“Zhu households are believed to raise snakes, and poison people by providing them polluted food or simply by eye contact,” said Ting Ji, an anthropologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences who worked on the study.
In a rural farming community in southwestern China, 13.7 per cent of the population have been labelled witches by their neighbours
The trait of zhu, also known as zhubo, can be spread or transferred from zhu households to non-zhu households by giving valuables, such as gold, silver or silk, Ting said.
“The rumour of one household having ‘zhu’ will spread quickly in the village and to the neighbouring villages,” she said.
In the new study, Ting and her colleagues describe the effects of being labelled zhu in the community in southwestern China.
The authors found that the label has serious consequences for the accused and their families, but that these consequences are mitigated when the “witches” band together.