Typical Collective Violence

1. Typical Collective Violence • Wars came with the formation of a civilization • History shows that humans engaged in wars frequently and these wars destroyed immeasurable lives • Einstein once said: “Is there a way to liberate mankind from the doom of war?” • Reasons for wars range from to “survival instinct” to pseudo-scientific claims of superiority, which lead to hatred and killing. • One particular reason: traumatic memory results in self-righteous exercise of violence in the name of vengeance

2. The Origins of human violence Nature/nurture dichotomy Aggression Death instinct (innate aggression) Destructive (active) Reactive (response to frustration, humiliation, and endangerment) cultural identities Ideology Religious Ethnicity Gender Class Traumatic memory Natural Philosophy of Violence Impulsion of qi, which is shared by nature and human

3. Natural Philosophy of Violence • Developed in the Warring • Reciprocal dialectic of nature and culture • Human behaviors mirror natural order • Qi is shared by myriad things/creatures and is the origin of violence • Men and physical world act directly upon one another through the medium of qi • Natural environment, human physiology, and political action are interconnected and mutually influence

4. Sanctioned Violence • Expressions of qi innatural and physical world • Common expression: Wind (feng), storm, thunderstorm, • Violent expression: killing (punishment) • Expressions of qi inhumanworld • Common expression: anger, aggression • Violent expression: • killing in the form of punishment • killing in the form of vengeance

5. Extension of the qi /feng Theory • Qi/Feng is used todenote environmental influences • Shapes distinctive behavior or temperament characteristic of each region • Shapes the spirits and the bodies of men • Men’s lives and their environments act reciprocally through the medium of wind • This theory of environmental influence is now known as “wind and water” (fengshui) • “Blood and qi” (animal energies, valor) in human body, once excited or aroused, can lead to bellicosity and violence

6. Civilization and Collective Violence • Violence came with civilization • The Yellow Emperor Myth • Created with a belief that in the earliest times men had not been clearly distinguished from animals • sages separated men from the animals, undertaking the effort of making “separation” and “distinction” • The Yellow Emperor was the foremost among these sages • Initially, one of the nobles under the Divine Husbandman, the ruler • Practiced the use of weapons to help the Divine Husbandman to punish those who did not attend the ruler’s court

7. War Literature • Stresses that qi is essential to victory • Military commander guides the expression of qi • Individual qi gives way to group/collective qi • Drum, bells, music, war dance are used to stir up the qi of the troops and horses • Commander possesses the deamon-like qualities and knows how to lead his army by following natural order (proper seasons) to attack • He knows how to manipulate qi of his soldiers and channel this qiinto becoming effective fighting spirits.

8. Yellow Emperor Subdued the Fiery Emperor and Chi You • “He cultivated his spiritual potency and arrayed his troops. He channeled the five qi, planted the five grains, consoled themyriad people, measured the four quarters, and instructed the bears, leopards, and tigers, and with them he battled the Fiery Emperor and killed him. Then the nobles reverenced him as the Son of Heaven…” • The Yellow Emperor levied armies of the nobles, battled with Chi You, and killed him • led an expedition against any states that did not obey him….and conquered all of them.

9. Battled with Chi You • “Chi You created weapons and attacked the Yellow Emperor, so the Yellow Emperor ordered the Responding Dragon to attack him at Jizhou. The dragon sucked up the waters, but Chi You asked the Wind Monarch and Rain Master to unleash great winds and rain. The Yellow Emperor then called down the celestial woman Bo, and the rain stopped, whereupon he killed Chi You.” • “The Yellow Emperor battled Chi You at Zhuo Lu, and Chi You created fog which lasted three days. The soldiers did not know what to do, so the Yellow Emperor ordered the Wind Monarch to imitate the North Star [the Yellow Emperor’s spirit progenitor and create the “south-pointing chariot” [a proto-compass] in order to distinguish the four directions, and they captured Chi You.”

10. Two Creators of Warfare • The Yellow Emperor and Chi You were two creators and patrons of warfare • Chi You, created weapons to destroy human, political order • The Yellow Emperor, implemented weapons to restore order • Both were bringers of storm and introducer of warfare • Both became cult figures and were sacrificed in rituals, particularly those associated with warfare

11. Symbolism of the Yellow Emperor • The tales of the Yellow Emperor and his battles were reinterpreted as accounts of the origins of violence • The Yellow Emperor symbolized the power that destroyed the creator of weapons and warfare • He became ancient prototype for all the major innovations in warfare • His heroism on the filed of battle, which took the form of collective violence, was glorified.