Oxford vpn for Youtube
1

most important: possession (medium)
◦ impersonation of deceased by descendant
◦ by deity/demon
◦ human or object (e.g. writing object or sedan chair)




less common: spirit travel (shaman)
◦ world of the dead
◦ world of the unborn child (Flower Gardens, in
southern China)
visitation by or encounter with extra-humans
dreams
moonblocks etc.
2

巫, 覡 archaizing terminology, not necessarily shaman as
defined above
降, 下 describes the descent of a deity/demon
附 describes possession, usually of a demon
尸 possession (only in pre-Han texts)
見鬼 seeer of demons (very common in zhiguai texts)
香頭 (N. China)
童乩 (Fujian/Taiwan)
鸞壇， 扶乩
抽籤
筊

beware:









◦ autonym or label (almost invariably the latter)
◦ terms such as wu never sufficient evidence
3
very big sticks!
觀音籤
東京浅草寺
northeastern
Guangdong
廣東
4
筊1
平面
朝上
平面
朝上
凸面
朝上
凸面
朝上
筊2
平面
朝上
凸面
朝上
平面
朝上
凸面
朝上
機率
俗稱
0.5*0.5=
0.25
笑筊
0.25
聖筊
0.25
聖筊
0.25
陰筊
5




disapproval educated elite over last centuries
prohibited & persecuted after 1911, certainly
1949
seen as typical “ethnic minority”
fieldwork highly sensitive
6

楚辭

shamanic songs?

source of elite stereotype
◦ 離騷 attributed to Qu Yuan 屈原 since bio by Sima Qian
司馬遷
◦ 九歌
◦ 招魂
◦ attributions more relevant as beliefs than as historical
facts
◦ 離騷 an emotional song about his fate in (political) life,
no indication of spirit travel, leave alone possession (e.g.
translation)
◦ 九歌 ritual songs, neither spirit travel or possession
◦ 招魂 precursor Daoist ritual, if anything
◦ “south” as shamanic (and north not!)
◦ “south” as location Nuo exorcist ritual
7

some possibilities
◦ medium cults derided by early Daoists of Heavenly
Master tradition, later also educated elite in general
◦ on elite/prestige level accepted until early Song
◦ shift performers, regionally differentiated, from
male to female (Ioan Lewis thesis)

regional specificity
◦ to be combined with historical change, ex. Huizhou
*dangki (late Ming local history)
8

(how) does it work?
◦ minimizing incertitude
◦ delegating impossible decisions
◦ interpreters of medium/spirit writers “messages”
know local people & local situation

examples
◦ Arthur Kleinman argument for Taiwan
◦ Record of Miraculous Responses by the Generals 將
軍靈驗記 from the Lord Guan cult
9
10


Max Weber’s concept
in the eyes of the beholder, not an absolute
quality: belief by followers that someone
possesses extraordinary qualities
◦ routinized charisma (when derived from office, special
objects, lineage)
◦ personal charisma (without pedigree)


outside institutionalized structures, not bound
(NB there may be cultural conventions about
what counts as charismatic)
charisma gives a personal hold over people,
feared and rejected/persecuted by
establishment
11



ling 靈ability to work miracles (positive)
yin 淫 “licentiousness” & “dissolute”: quality of
acting out of bounds (negative)
nao 閙 “to upset”, “create havoc”: upsetting
of normal order as source power (liminal)
熱鬧
熱鬧
鬧房
李三太子(哪吒)閙天
12





territorial
deity controls territory
and worshippers with
right of residence
communal
representation &
benefits
ascribed
formal rites (state,
communal, Daoist,
Buddhist)






charismatic
deity helps whoever
worships
personal requests &
benefits
hence erratic nature of
benefits
voluntary
inspired rites
(shamans, mediums)
13


limen=border =>
liminal place as border & transition (see discussion
of Daoist ritual)
liminal creatures live between here and
there =>
can mediate between worlds (good), can come to
attack us (bad)

origins:
◦
◦
◦

incomplete transition (hungry ghosts/demons
餓鬼)
non-humans changing form
humans attaining life beyond life (immortals)
liminal position enables charisma
14

violent death origin of most deities
◦ bone/grave cults
◦ plague deities

despised by early and later Daoist ritual
traditions
◦ as manifestations of stale qi
◦ for their mediums

for some: routinization of charisma
◦ deity becomes territorial (may be local, socially
incomplete)
◦ hagiography cleaned up
◦ state support
15

Four Great Families (四大門): fox 狐/胡仙, snake 柳仙(蛇),
weasel黄仙(黄鼠狼), hedgehog 白仙(刺猬)
◦
◦
◦
◦
sometimes the rat 灰仙(老鼠) or others as fifth
live on margins of cultivated land
self-cultivation> ability of transforming into human shape
not to be confused with literary topos

each animal was unique member of overall type

small shrines

charismatic power

underlying part of the fox stories in 聊齋志異
◦ family name same, personal name varies
◦ often nr. + lang 郎
◦
◦
◦
◦
irregular sightings as human/animal
could be male and female
privately worshipped for personal favours
even worshipped in yamen
◦ erratic & vindicative deities
◦ help with insecurity/contingency of events for worshippers
(仙): wealth, health, crops etc. (and its reverse!)
◦ disapproved by state & outsiders (妖,精)=>sexual accusations
◦ female seducers & male friends
◦ fox from the fox cults
16
A survey of animal and other shrine deities in Jilin City
animal cults
other shrine cults
Hu 胡
78
Earth God
23
Huang 黃
36
Mountain God
20
Liu 柳
4
Five Paths (五道)
15
Mang 莽
3
Bai 白
1
Five Great Household
Immortals
6
(grand total: 62 small shrines, mostly for several deities at a time)
17

member of the Four Great Families possess
people
◦ possessed person starts to behave and talk strangely
◦ identified as “possessed” (by “incensers” or experienced
people)
◦ the deity communicates the issue or carries out a
punishment
◦ explanatory value

“incensers” (香頭)
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
initially possessed involuntarily
need to identify immortal descending into them
tutor
initiation ritual
local network of customers
18




Wutong 五通/ Wuchang 五猖
◦ Yangzi region in particulardeveloped from demonic
creatures, esp. “one legged mountain demon”
◦ later seen as animal or animal transformation
deal with insecurities of life/money economy
charisma => labelled licentious 淫
◦ state: heavily persecuted, esp. 18th century
◦ local outside perception: sexual accusations
we know little about shamanic practice,
except that they existed and functioned more
or less like the “incensers”
19
enactment Wuchang,
no longer possession
Wutong: modern fiction
20

esp. well-documented in Fujianese cultural zone
(historically Fujian, Taiwan, SE Asia)
etymology

function

examples:

◦ speculation on Austronesian roots word
◦ jitong (!): Mandarin cultural imperialism
◦ not necessarily young, mostly male
◦ communication less clearly important
◦ demonstrative of divine power and presence
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS8kWCjNI6k
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOkNPbdZ3kA
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DEUIxrwcUk
21



analogous “incensers” in northern China
male and female, personal deity, any age
example:
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptzZ_2f-Kh8
22


early example possession
relatively well-documented in 真誥 a.o. works
(show pdf file?)
◦ possession




眾眞並未降事
非降楊時也
自此後諸真共語耳
右南嶽夫人言
◦ record
 定錄
 喻書此。紫陽旨也。
◦ read passage p. 19 together
23
24


Tang origins in signs 紫姑-cult (acc. to 許地山)=>
divine writing in characters
common form of revelation & communication by
Song
◦
◦
◦
◦
immortals (rarely well-known deities)
poetic communication
writing thru winnowing basket, wooden pencil etc.
writers and interpreters

practitioners

example:
◦ originally mostly educated elite
◦ prestige form of divine communication
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptzZ_2f-Kh8
25


文昌化書 (Song: Terry Kleeman)
early Qing onwards (why so late unclear to
me)
◦ Lü Dongbin texts
◦ combined with charitable movement
 True Classic to Awaken the World by Imperial Lord
Saint Guan 關聖帝君覺世真經
 Classic of Imperial Lord Saint Guan who Illuminates
Saintliness 闗聖帝君明聖經

allowed creative fusion local (oral) culture &
educated culture(s)
26

Unity Way 一貫道
◦ continued use spirit writing
27
28

shamanic travel to Flower Gardens
◦ world unborn child (pot flowers, red/white buds)
◦ rituals for changing sex of future child & healing
◦ prognostication future children

southern culture
◦ Fujian/Taiwan
◦ Guangdong
◦ local cultures (Yao, Miao a.o.)

some research (Berthier; Taiwanese
colleagues)
29

travels thru underworld
◦ relationship ritualized visits by specialists unclear
◦ to investigate deceased or ill people who are
already partly in underworld

lack of ethnographical descriptions
30
31

not necessarily by shamans/mediums
◦ Hong Xiuquan 洪秀全


shamans in Chinese context rarely have
visions
mediums do have revelations
◦ potential for scenario-revelations
 scenarios most commonly moral rearmament
 either way: action requires further conditions to be
fulfilled
◦ non-scenario more common
 Taiwanese & HK cases
 provide solutions to people’s problems
32