Medical cannibalism
In hundreds of documented cases, young individuals, often women, voluntarily cut flesh from their bodies to feed to their ill parents or parents-in-law.
During the Cultural Revolution, cannibalism resurged in the context of political and social upheaval, with instances of individuals consuming the organs of perceived "class enemies" under the belief they had healing properties.
[2] Medical cannibalism in Europe reached its peak in the 16th century, with the practice becoming widespread in Germany, France, Italy, and England.
[3] At that time, most "raw materials" for the practice came from mummies stolen from Egyptian tombs; additionally skulls were taken from Irish burial sites and gravediggers sometimes robbed and sold body parts.
[1][3] The execution of criminals was seen as having a double advantage: alive they were "a burden on the nation", but their dead bodies had "the power to serve a public good" by improving the health of others.
[4] Europeans also adopted a belief they considered to be of Ancient Egyptian origin, namely that the more valuable corpses were those of young individuals, especially those that had died a brutal sudden death, for it was believed that the spirit would remain trapped within the body for a longer period of time, and thus have greater healing powers.
[12][13] While these acts were (at least nominally) voluntary and the donors usually (though not always) survived them, several sources also report of children and adolescents who were killed so that their flesh could be eaten for medical purposes.
According to some sources, eating the boiled heart of a child was considered a good way of extending one's own life (especially if regularly repeated) – though inevitably deadly for the "donor".
[14] Emperor Wuzong of Tang supposedly ordered provincial officials to send him "the hearts and livers of fifteen-year-old boys and girls" when he had become seriously ill, hoping in vain this medicine would cure him.
In a case recorded by the local authorities, a school teacher in Mengshan County "heard that consuming a 'beauty's heart' could cure disease".
He admitted having joined in the feast after one of his students "held up a piece of dried human flesh the size of a finger and said to me: 'You have chronic stomach problems.
"[19] In a further case that took place in Wuxuan County, likewise in the Guangxi region, three brothers were beaten to death as supposed enemies; afterwards their livers were cut out, baked, and consumed "as medicine".
Traders connected to hospitals sold aborted fetuses for consumption, charging "up to $300 apiece" and promising "all sorts of medical benefits ... from rejuvenation to a cure for asthma".
Chan and the screenwriter Lilian Lee believe that they also unknowingly ate such soup while researching in hospitals for their movie Dumplings (2004), which features this custom.
[22] In 2011/2012, more than 17,000 capsule pills purported to be filled with the powdered flesh of human fetuses or stillborns and "touted for increasing vitality and sex drive" were seized by South Korean customs officials from ethnic Koreans living in China, who had tried to bring them into South Korea to consume the capsules themselves or distribute them to others.
In 1679, a Franciscan apothecary suggested letting the blood partially dry and chopping it into small pieces to allow any remaining water to seep out.
