| Abstract |
This article discusses the memoir of a young man who was orphaned when his entire household, led by his esteemed grandfather, committed suicide in the throes of the Manchu-Qing conquest of southeastern coastal China in the 1640s. The youngster’s account is a virtual catalog of the factors that induce and indicate post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as the circumstances that are conducive to “working through” that syndrome. A principal point of this article is that whether events are traumatizing in experience and memory, and whether traumatized minds can be healed, depend greatly on a given person’s beliefs and value system. Here are shown the workings of Confucian beliefs and values in the mind-and-body of a filial grandson caught in the cruelties of inter-dynastic warfare. |
