What happened to the soul-calling incident in the Qing Dynasty? Why did Qianlong become so vigilant?
The incident happened in the fifteenth year of Qianlong's reign. At that time, the weather was good all over the country and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. However, a very strange "soul-calling incident" occurred in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Just take a charm with a person's birth date written on it, and then slap the charm to deliberately shock the person's soul. Every time it is slapped, the soul will be shocked.
The first official who discovered the case thought it was nonsense and slapped the person who spread the rumors 25 times, and the case was closed. What I didn't expect was that after a while, there were many similar events nearby.
The person's birth date and birth date are written on the talisman before being slapped. Sometimes, in order to make the person slapped more accurately, the person's clothes will be stolen or their hair will be cut. Things are getting worse and worse, from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas to Shandong, and are about to be out of control.
This matter finally reached Qianlong’s ears, and Qianlong asked all officials to investigate the matter thoroughly. According to the memorial in the newspaper, Qianlong saw the words "haircut". In the early Qing Dynasty, a lot of bloodshed occurred in order to let Han people cut their hair.
Although many years have passed since the incident, the ruler is still worried. Therefore, Qianlong believed that some people wanted to use this soul-calling incident to stir up dissatisfaction with the Manchu rulers, and they may still have the idea of revolting against the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty.
This touched Qianlong's bottom line. He ordered officials across the country to strictly examine this matter. However, local officials were very lax, and everyone solved the soul-calling incident by suppressing and appeasing them.
The incident has not subsided after a long investigation. Qianlong was very disappointed with the ministers, especially the Han ministers. He believed that they were passive and sabotaged, and they were simply deliberately conniving.
Because of the soul-calling incident, many innocent people were implicated. In the end, it was discovered that no one had any different intentions. It was just rumors spread by the Taoist priests in order to make a living.