In 1968, during the cultural revolution in Wuxuan of Guangxi,
a case of widespread cultured cannibalism occurred. This is a quick post compiling the best quotes from
Consuming Counterrevolution: The Ritual and Culture of Cannibalism in Wuxuan, Guangxi, China, May to July 1968 (1995). This paper is itself heavily based on the book
Scarlet Memorial: Tales of Cannibalism in Modern China (1993).
Wuxuan in 1966 was a fairly remote county reporting a population of 221,786.
From May to July, struggles were held in all or the great majority of the 114 brigades (villages and streets [jie]), and no fewer than 90 had one or more struggle meetings that terminated with on-the-spot execution. Of a total of 524 executed, 64 (later amended to 75 or 76) were eaten throughout the county's municipality and nine communes, according to the official investigation (Zheng 1993:58, 96).
His second chapter is closely based on the official report of what happened, dated May 1987, and a separate list of 64 victims, dated July 4, 1983. Fifty-six had their heart and liver cut out; 18 were completely consumed (down to the soles of their feet), 13 had their genitals eaten, one was decapitated after being eaten, and 7 were actually cut up while they were still alive (Zheng 1993:96).
Only 15 were punished by jail sentences, for only up to 14 years.
