Introduction 1
1 The Intellectual Context of Ming Physiognomy 25
1 The Categorisation of Physiognomic Knowledge in Chinese
History 27
2 The Textual Background of Physiognomy Manuals 34
3 The Intellectual Context of the Physiognomic Body 52
4 Conclusion 65
2 The Social Context of Physiognomy in the Ming 67 1 Physiognomy Practitioners 69
2 Practising Physiognomy 85
3 Social Perceptions of Physiognomy 103
4 Conclusion 109
3 The Physiognomic Conceptualisation of the Cosmos 112
1 Materiality and the Meanings of ‘Things’ in a Physiognomic
Cosmology 113
2 The Physiognomy of Things and the Perception of the Cosmos 118
3 The Physiognomy of Characters as a Bodily and Cosmic Process 138
4 Conclusion 145
4 The Physiognomic Conceptualisation of the Body Microcosm 147 1 The Topology of Fortune 149
2 The Head and the Face: Microcosm of a Microcosm 154
3 Different Systems of the Facial Microcosm 162
4 Microcosms Beyond the Head 172 5 Conclusion 174
5 The Physiognomic Conceptualisation of Human Physiology 176
1 The Physiognomy of the Formed and Formless Body 177
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vi Contents
2 The Physiognomy of Pulses 197
3 Physiognomy of Gendered Body 207
4 Interactions with Medical Knowledge and Practices 213
5 Conclusion 216
6 Categorising the Body and Interpreting Fortune 217
1 Categorising the Body for Fortune-telling 217
2 Differentiating Fortune in Gender and Body Growth 232 3 Exceptions in Body Categorisations 242
4 Conclusion 258
7 Cultivating the Body and Changing Fortune 260 1 The Paradox of Predestined Fortune 261
2 Cultivation and the Changing Fortune 268
3 Conclusion 276
Conclusion 278 Bibliography 289
Index 321