The Cannibal Phenomena in the Last Reign of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and the Beginning of the Song Dynasty

In the last reign of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and the beginning of the Song Dynasty, mention was uninterruptedly made of the cannibal phenomena in history books. Those things occurring at that the for historical causes such as social upheavals, ignorance and wilful practice in levying brutal treatment upon other people, and they also had something to do with the rise in the custom of cutting flesh off one's longer leg to cure one's relatives after Indian Buddhism been introduced into China, and the ancient custom still in existence of killing a person as sacrificial offerings. Rulers in the beginning of the Song Dynasty, tried hard to practise upholding good customs, promoting education and cultivation, ed to mete out punishment to the pernicious customs, bad habits and evil ways, as a result of which those phenomena were gradually reduced and even swept away.