Spirit-Writing and the Development of Chinese Cults
Chinese spirit-writing, like other forms of shamanism, is one route to authority and influence during social crisis. The writings discussed here were produced by a spirit-medium who founded a cult during the plagues and political turmoil in China in the 1890s. Such material is valuable for understan...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford Univ. Press
1998
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| In: |
Sociology of religion
Year: 1998, Volume: 59, Issue: 4, Pages: 309-328 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Chinese spirit-writing, like other forms of shamanism, is one route to authority and influence during social crisis. The writings discussed here were produced by a spirit-medium who founded a cult during the plagues and political turmoil in China in the 1890s. Such material is valuable for understanding how the medium defines his/her mission, attracts and impresses followers, deals with group problems, and responds to the socio-political conditions of the time. This method of revelation was abandoned, however, after the spirit-writer's cult was relocated to Hong Kong and gained a mass following, in favor of the alternative method of “fortune-sticks” and fortune poems. The former divination method is ideal for the origins of such a cult; the latter, for mass worship in the metropolis. |
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| ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3712120 |