Suicide as a Prism: Liminal Perspectives on Early Chinese History (400 BCE – 400 CE)

• Applicant: Dr. Kathrin Leese-Messing
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 576355407

The proposed research project "Suicide as a Prism: Liminal Perspectives on Early Chinese History (400 BCE – 400 CE)" is dedicated to closing a major sinological research gap. Despite the widely recognized significance and potential of the topic of suicide in Chinese history, and despite the frequent reference to historical-cultural dispositions in discussions of contemporary suicide rates, the subject has so far been scarcely addressed in scholarly research with regard to the period from the late Warring States to the early medieval era. Rejecting trends of oversimplifications, the project proposes instead a nuanced, historcizing analysis that foregrounds plurality and change in ancient suicide practices and views. Drawing on ancient transmitted and excavated texts—ranging from historiography and philosophical treatises to medical texts and excavated legal documents—the study treats suicide not as a timeless “Chinese tradition” but as a historically contingent, multi-faceted phenomenon. Preliminary research shows marked variation across contexts and over time, with examples ranging from elite political debates on the institutionalizaton of “granted deaths” to medical instructions for reviving suicide victims. The project will result in the publication of a scholarly monograph (in English) on the history of suicide in China from ca. 400 BCE to 400 CE. The research pursues three core objectives: 1) Uncovering synchronic plurality – identifying coexisting suicide practices and attitudes within the period under investigation. 2) Detecting diachronic change – tracing when specific practices or discourses emerged, declined, or transformed, and contextualizing these shifts in social, political, and religious developments. 3) Revealing multifaceted entanglements – using suicide as a prism through which to address core issues of early Chinese history and society. Five interlinked parameters (beliefs, status, gender, politics, and illness) will structure the inquiry and guarantee a nuanced treatment of the sensitive subject of research. By integrating plural perspectives and tracing change over time, the project will challenge essentialist narratives, present a new perspective on the history of early China, and contribute to comparative studies of suicide across cultures and epochs.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants