The Harvard historian Philip A. Kuhn’s book on a 1768 sorcery scare has drawn parallels to today’s China

How does an autocratic ruler trample on the law? How does a bureaucracy manipulate the ruler? How does a government accommodate people of unconventional lifestyles and beliefs? The Harvard historian Philip A. Kuhn cited these as questions worth exploring in his preface to the Chinese translation of a book he wrote about 18th-century China. His death last month at the age of 82 has revived these questions for those who see striking parallels with contemporary politics.

In “Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768” (Harvard University Press, 1990), Mr. Kuhn examined the mass hysteria that broke out over rumors that sorcerers were roaming the country, cutting off men’s braids and stealing their souls, and what this revealed about the inner functioning of the state. The Qianlong Emperor waged a vigorous campaign against the social unrest as a perceived threat to his rule. Officials eager to demonstrate their loyalty extracted confessions of sorcery from citizens under torture. Ordinary people, gripped by fear, lashed out against the marginalized people of society.

“This book really addresses basic issues in Chinese society and culture,” said Liu Chang, a history professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai and one of the book’s translators, in a telephone interview. “People, to survive, sacrificed others to protect themselves.”

In an article about Mr. Kuhn published shortly after his death, the journalist Song Zhibiao noted how in “Soulstealers,” people brought false charges against outsiders, and officials scrambled to obey the emperor’s order to identify sorcerers and framed the innocent.

“Retribution became the most popular form of attack,” Mr. Song wrote. “Can we say this sorcery phenomenon has disappeared?” ...