From Cosmopolitical Mode to Traditional Knowledge: Introduction to the Special Issue “The Revitalization of Shamanism in Contemporary China”

In his 1993 paper published in Shaman, Shi (1993) recognized that while Chinese scholars conclude that shamanism emerged and flourished in the prehistoric period and faded in post-industrial society, they are “puzzled by its vitality today” (Shi 1993, p. 156). As Shi states, Chinese scholars “fail to realize that shamanism, like other components of tradition, undergoes constant change and adaptation in order to survive in an ever-hostile environment” (Shi 1993, p. 156). It is true that the evolutionary trend from classical anthropology still had a significant influence on Chinese anthropologists during the 1980s and 1990s. On the one hand, Chinese scholars viewed contemporary shamanism as “a remnant of primitive culture” and “living fossils” (Fu 2000, p. 124); on the other hand, they regarded shamanic practices and other forms of material culture as representing a valuable heritage to be preserved and studied in order to enhance ethnic cultures and improve ethnic identity (Qu 2018, pp. 8–9). According to Shi’s report, in the 1980s and the early 1990s, “at least a dozen documentary video films were made on the surviving shamanic traditions of the Daur, Evenki, Manchu, Mongol, Oroqen, Uygur, and Xibo” (Shi 1993, p. 152).

Recent ethnographic data show that contemporary shamanism in China appears to be a highly complex phenomenon. While shamanism has declined among some minority groups, such as the Oroqen (Qu 2024a) and the Chinese Reindeer-Evenki (Heyne 1999), shamanic practices have been significantly revitalized among the Mongolian, Daur, Manchu, Han-Chinese, and other groups in the 21st century (Qu 2024b). As Qu rightly points out, shamanism among ethnic groups in China “is a traditional regional knowledge system characterized by strong continuity, as well as flexibility and adaptability to changes in natural and social environments. Although it has historically suffered the loss of much traditional knowledge due to the pressure of institutional religions and political suppression, it has shown the ability to readjust its relationship with contemporary social environments whenever conditions permit, thereby finding new paths for existence and development” (Qu 2021, p. 115).

This volume introduces eleven studies that present various approaches and diverse perspectives on shamanic and other folkloric magico-religious practices among ethnic groups and Han-Chinese living in both urban and rural areas of China. Five of these studies focus on Tungusic groups, including the Manchu (Jiang; Qu), Manchu-ized Han-Chinese (Zhao and Zheng), Oroqen (Ni and Guo), and Daur (Sa). In 1935, the Russian anthropologist Sergei Mikhailovich Shirokogoroff (1887–1939) published his famous monograph Psychological Complex of the Tungus, which represents pioneering research on Tungusic shamanism (Shirokogoroff 1935). Since the early 1980s, numerous Chinese scholars have engaged in the study of shamanism in Manchuria, greatly influenced by Shirokogoroff’s work. Several of the papers collected herein demonstrate that Tungusic groups remain a central focus in contemporary studies of shamanism in China. As well, with one contribution on Mongolian healing and another on the Tu group in Northwest China, four focus on case studies of Han-Chinese.

Based on her in-depth examination of the research history of shamanism in China, Shuyun Guo has determined that between 1980 and 2010, research on shamanism was “developing on a large scale” and had produced “excellent results” (Guo 2013, p. 145). Topics such as the concept of shamanism; ritual functions; heritage; the origin and development of shamanism; its relationship with Chinese civilization; and the characteristics of shamanic myths, music, and psychological elements became popular in the field (Guo 2013). However, the contributions in this volume reflect new trends in the study of shamanism and magico-religious phenomena in contemporary China. First, although the trance or ecstasy model has dominated shamanism studies for over half a century, the authors herein shift away from this psychological focus toward historical and social dimensions. Second, rather than adhering to static functional approaches, scholars now emphasize dynamic and diverse perspectives, exploring how social transformations, political changes, and modernity have reshaped the ontological forms and social roles of shamanism in contemporary China. Third, the authors in this collection reveal an ontological turn that rethinks the relationships between humans and other-than-human beings from a relational perspective, moving beyond the dualism traditionally dominant in anthropology. In this framework, ritual healing and interactions with nonhuman entities are no longer treated merely as physiological or psychological mechanisms. Instead, they are understood as forms of local traditional knowledge aimed at maintaining cosmological harmony within communities shared by humans and nonhumans.

1. Moving Beyond the Trance Model

There is no doubt that using psychological states as a criterion for defining the concept of shaman or shamanism has led to a global misunderstanding of shamanism. Since the Eliadean trance model has become dominant in shamanism studies after the publication of the English edition of Eliade’s monograph Shamanism in the 1960s, the psychological term “Altered States of Consciousness” (ASC) has become “the buzzword in interdisciplinary studies of shamanism” (Atkinson 1992, p. 310). In the 21st century, an increasing number of scholars have recognized this academic issue while analyzing ethnographic and historical data. It is undeniable that the trance model presents a timeless and ahistorical perspective based on the human central nervous system. Within this framework, ethnographic and historical studies appear unnecessary and “superfluous” (Sidky 2010, p. 223). From Robert Wallis’ perspective, the psychological trend is driven by cultural evolutionism and is thus characterized by primitivism, dualism, colonialism, and a “scientific” logic (Wallis 2003). It is evident that all these elements have significantly influenced previous studies of shamanism in China. The term “living fossil” has become a dominant metanarrative in many Chinese publications on shamanism (see Qu 2018). By emphasizing “symbolic and cosmological aspects,” the trance model inevitably downplays “socio-political diversity” (Wallis 2003, p. 38).

Paradoxically, although the word shaman originally comes from the Manchu language, nevertheless, according to trance theory, the clan shaman—one of the two types of Manchu shamans—may not be classified as shamans because they do not enter ecstatic states during ritual performances. Meanwhile, many mediums, yogis, and other practitioners worldwide may be categorized as shamans simply because they can enter an altered state of consciousness (Walsh 2001, p. 32). Michael Winkelman also observes that many practitioners other than shamans employ “a variety of trance induction techniques” to achieve an ecstatic state (Winkelman 1986). When examining North Asian ethnographic and historical data, Caroline Humphrey argues that the Eliadian model is inadequate for explaining shamanic practices in this region. She contends that “inspirational religious practices have never been independent of context” and “should be seen as reactive and constitutive in relation to other forms of power” within a broader regional and diachronic framework (Humphrey 1994, p. 192). Having conducted a case study on Manchu court shamans in the Qing Dynasty’s Forbidden City in Beijing, Humphrey’s findings reveal that although these court shamans—typically the wives of court officials and ministers—did not call spirits to enter their bodies, but rather, they still summoned spirits to be present on-site through drumming, dancing, and praying. She argues that there is no justification for excluding these Manchu female practitioners from the category of shamans (Humphrey 1994).

In his contribution to this volume, Michael Winkelman provides an ethnological analysis of the term Chinese wu (巫) based on cross-cultural research. He argues that wu is not a homogeneous category but encompasses various types, including priests who hold dual political–religious roles and wield supreme secular and religious power and mediums engaged in healing, divination, and spirit communication. His typological study reveals that wu varies across different regional, historical, social, and political contexts and remains in a constant state of change and transformation. It is evident that Winkelman seeks to distinguish Chinese wu from the Siberian shaman, echoing what the French sinologist Henri Maspero referred to as wuism (Maspero 1927). From Winkelman’s perspective, the foraging shaman possesses supernatural animal qualities, the ability to transform, techniques of ecstasy, and the drumming and singing skills essential for trance. However, he argues that most types of Chinese wu “do not correspond to Foraging or Agricultural Shamans, but rather to other types of ritualists”. Winkelman’s conclusion clearly contradicts Thomas Michael’s perspective, which identifies two varieties of shamanism in early historical China: “bureaucratic shamanism” and “independent shamanism” (Michael 2015). Nevertheless, his analysis undeniably contributes to a deeper understanding of the revival of shamanism in China.

It is evident that trance theory remains central to Winkelman’s construction of the concept of shamanism. However, this is not the case in other contributions to this volume. Instead, these authors shift their focus from the psychological dimension to social and political analyses, aiming for a more holistic understanding of shamanic practices in contemporary China. Drawing on contextual studies of Manchu historical accounts and ethnographic records, Feng Qu’s contribution argues that Manchu shamanism—including court shamanism, clan shamanism, and wild shamanism—has always been a dynamic, reactive, constitutive, and historically fluid process. Xiaoli Jiang examines how shamanic rituals permeated daily life and became integral to the social realities of ordinary Manchu families. She argues that shamanism remained active and played a vital role in the social life of Manchu Banners throughout the entire Qing Dynasty, both in Manchuria and in Beijing and its surrounding regions. Manchu rituals were deeply intertwined with clan structures, subsistence practices, military activities, and everyday life. Lina Zhao and De Zheng offer a unique and original analysis of how military elements have contributed to the formation and development of a specific type of shamanic ritual among Han-Chinese groups within the Manchu Banner system, shaped by long-term social and political transformations. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that shamanism has always, in the words of Humphrey, “responded to the different configurations of power in changing historical circumstances” (Humphrey 1994, p. 194).

2. Social Transformation and Cosmopolitical Mode

The above analyses indicate that shamanism is not a static model but a dynamic and ever-changing social phenomenon. These dynamics have been particularly intensified in the 21st century, as rapid advancements in technology; globalization; environmental challenges; climate change; economic transformations; political complexities; and global, national, and regional governance issues continue to shape local cultures. In China, the modernization and politicization of heritage-making processes have significantly influenced the revival of shamanic practices, leading to a growing academic focus on cosmopolitics (Qu 2024a). In Ivan Taycey’s perspective, the term “cosmopolitics” refers to a local ontological world shaped through “interconnectivity with other places and peoples and contemporary experiences of rapid environmental change and social, economic and political marginalization” (Tacey 2021, p. 92). Scholars are now considering the multiplicity of relationships and the diverse actors involved in the making of shamanism. Many of the studies in this volume demonstrate that, under the influence of heritage policies and sociopolitical changes in a globalized and modernized context, shamanism in contemporary China has undergone a transformation. This shift emphasizes ethnic identity and the legitimization of ethnic traditions within a new cosmopolitical framework, where traditional individual healing rituals and seasonal sacrifices take place simultaneously.

Richard Fraser observes that while the Chinese state employs top-down heritage and tourism policies for rural and economic development, minority actors often adopt bottom-up heritage-making and new livelihood strategies to strengthen ethnic identity and improve their own communities (Fraser 2019). In this volume, Haiyan Xing and Mengting Huang’s study on the Tu group in Qinghai and Zhuo Ni and Yue Guo’s study on the Oroqen group in Northeast China illustrate how minority actors actively participate in the state-led heritagization of local shamanic cultures to legitimize their own traditions. In this way, “the cosmological and the political, the local and the global, and the traditional and the modernized are intertwined to form a cosmopolitical mode” (Qu 2024a, p. 117). As Xing and Huang observe, among the Tu group, informal local magico-religious activities can influence the formal political structure of a Tu community. Consequently, state policies and local realities can “achieve a compromise”.

The heritagization of shamanism signifies a shift from local ideology “to a more global level” (Wallis 2003, p. 224). In examining the revival of shamanism among the Yakut, Piers Vitebsky observed that contemporary shamanism has been “re-localized on the spot, creating a kind of global indigenosity” (Vitebsky 1995, p. 198). Consequently, Vitebsky further argues that shamanism in this context “is both community-based and a new sort of world religion” (Vitebsky 1995, p. 193). In their studies of Oroqen shamanism in this volume, Ni and Guo argue that, against the backdrop of globalization, modernization, and social transformation, shamanic culture has taken on a new contemporary significance. They suggest that by using shamanic culture as a starting point and reshaped symbol, the Oroqen people reinforce their identity, deepen their understanding of national culture, and strengthen their cultural confidence and awareness.

Michael Herzfeld introduced the concept of “cultural intimacy,” which refers to the tension between internal cultural practices and external misunderstandings of those practices. For Herzfeld, paradoxically, state bureaucracies—as outsiders—often construct official narratives based on the intimate, everyday practices of grassroots communities (Herzfeld 2016). Inspired by Herzfeld, Naran Bilik argued that shamanic practices in China “provides an informal space of cultural intimacy, a space not open to outsiders whose inquisitive gaze may only bring embarrassment, and where both officials and non-officials feel the commonality of mutual acknowledgement without any sense of awkwardness” (Naran 2021, p. 219). In this volume, Xiaoshuang Liu also notes that the process of heritage-making creates new spaces of cultural intimacy, in which state discourse and insiders of shamanic culture have established cooperation. While shamanic rituals are presented as folklore art and intangible heritage for the government and tourists, they function more fundamentally as an ontological knowledge system that connects the human and nonhuman worlds.

3. Animist Ontologies and Shamanism as Traditional Knowledge

Scholars studying shamanism and magico-religious traditions in China have drawn inspiration from ontological anthropologists such as Descola (2013), Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (1998), and others (Ingold 1998; Pedersen 2001). The animist ontologies proposed by these scholars suggest that the realm of sociality extends beyond humanity to include mountains, trees, animals, and similar entities as nonhuman persons (Pedersen 2001, p. 418). In this framework, culture and society are not solely created and shaped by humans but are also influenced by nonhuman activities. Recent scholarship recognizes the social relations and intersubjective interactions between human and nonhuman beings. Xi Ju’s study in this volume illustrates how nonhuman animals, coexisting alongside urban human inhabitants in Beijing, interact and communicate within the same social realm. It also highlights how animals, as social agents with their own personalities, intentionality, and sociality, actively participate in the processes of everyday life-making and co-construct urban culture and history alongside humans.

For human inhabitants in Beijing, understanding and interacting with neighboring animals reflect a traditional knowledge system that plays an integral role in building a society shared by humans and nonhumans. As Ju emphasizes, “this knowledge is not only local and embodied but also backed by a long and vast tradition. In this tradition, animal spirits are not considered as elements of a ‘religion’ or a ‘belief’ but rather as a widely shared ‘zoology’ that has a long history”.

Although indigenous communities have relied on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) for generations, it was only in the 1980s that Western scientific circles began to recognize its value as an important resource for ecological understanding. By the 1990s and 2000s, TEK became increasingly integrated into research practices in the world, marking a paradigm shift toward the quasi-systematic involvement or consultation of Indigenous communities in scientific studies (Berkes 1993, 1999; Lavrillier and Gabyshev 2021). However, although scholars have acknowledged that TEK constitutes an integrated system of knowledge, practices, and beliefs (Berkes 1993, p. 7) and is embedded within a cosmological framework (Doubleday 1993), shamanism as eco-cosmological knowledge has been significantly underestimated in the field of TEK studies. Nevertheless, several studies in this volume—including Ju’s—provide compelling research on ritual healing, nonhuman structures, and shamanic wisdom, which are examined as components of a traditional knowledge system. Undoubtedly, shamanic and magico-religious practices, as local traditional activities, will continue to play a vital role in human adaptation to social and climatic changes within the context of globalization and modernization.

In this volume, we view shamanism as part of TEK, equivalent to what Tacey has termed “eco-cosmological” knowledge. In Tacey’s framework, the term “eco-cosmology” refers to an animistic and relational system in which humans are deeply interconnected with a variety of nonhuman entities, including spirits of animals, ancestors, places, meteorological phenomena, and the underworld (Tacey 2021, p. 77). As an Indigenous scholar proficient in Daur languages, Minna Sa’s contribution to this volume possesses a comprehensive understanding of the unique significance and meaning of each Daur ritual. This enables her to provide a thick description and nuanced interpretation of Daur traditional knowledge regarding the oboo ritual and its associated spirit system. The oboo ritual, as an expression of ecological knowledge among peoples in North China, plays a central role in human social life. As Dumont suggests, the reciprocal exchange between human and nonhuman entities during the oboo ritual ensures “the fertility of the herds, green pastures, and abundant rain” (Dumont 2021, p. 50).

Shamanic healing has been regarded as a therapeutic or psychotherapeutic technique in cross-cultural and ethnographic studies of shamanism (Peters 1982; Walsh 1990, 1997; Winkelman 1986). However, two authors in this volume view shamanic and magico-religious healing as a traditional knowledge system that maintains cosmological relations between the human and spirit worlds. Based on his analysis of shamanic elements in contemporary Khorchin Mongolian bone-setting clinics in Inner Mongolia, Gencang Meng’s contribution to this volume reveals that traditional Mongolian bone-setting played a significant role in shamanic practices, with its knowledge passed down through generations via family inheritance. In fact, as Meng argues, modern Mongolian bone-setting practices are a combination of scientific medical knowledge and traditional spiritual knowledge. Shichang Zhao’s contribution focuses on the healing ritual practices of the Precious Scrolls among Han-Chinese communities in the Hexi region of West China. These practices involve scroll-chanting, dancing, instrument playing, incense burning, and incantation reciting, all performed by local specialists to invoke spirits. The specific scrolls and spirits invoked vary depending on the illness. In the author’s argument, the healing power derives from the ritual space, scroll texts, offerings, portraits, music, fragrances, talismans, and incantations, which together constitute a system of local knowledge.

4. Outline of Contributions

Our volume opens with Winkelman’s contribution, “Chinese Wu, Ritualists and Shamans: An Ethnological Analysis”. Although it primarily focuses on traditional ritualists in ancient China rather than modern shamans, it offers a cross-cultural model for defining multiple types of religious practitioners and ritualists, based on ethnographic data at a global level. We believe that Winkelman’s approach holds significant value for understanding the revival of shamanism and contemporary magico-religious phenomena across diverse regions in China. This cross-cultural model identifies various types of religious practitioners and ritualists, including forager shamans, agricultural shamans, healers, mediums, priests, and sorcerers, through a quantitative analysis of ethnographic information drawn from 47 societies worldwide. Winkelman establishes a set of standard characteristics for each type of religious practitioner and ritualist. For example, the characteristics of foraging shamans include performing rituals involving enactments, drumming, dancing, and singing; communicating with spirits for healing, divination, and hunting; encountering spirits in visions and dreams; and undergoing training involving vision quests, among others. In his comparative analysis of ancient Chinese ritualists, the wu, Winkelman argues that they encompass multiple types of practitioners, including healers, agricultural shamans, mediums, and sorcerers/witches. Winkelman also extends his comparisons to the Reindeer Evenki on the northeastern edge of China and the Tu people in the northwestern region. While he concludes that the šaman of the Reindeer Evenki aligns closely with the characteristics of foraging shamans, he argues that the bo among the Tu people does not fit the shamanic profile but instead corresponds more closely to the features of a priest. However, Xing and Huang in this volume hold a different view, as they see no issue in using the term “shaman” to describe the Tu practitioner bo.

In his discussion of the Evenki šaman, Winkelman identifies the state of ecstasy and altered human consciousness as central features of a foraging shaman. However, the following three papers shift their focus away from the psychological perspective to the social dimension. Qu examines three types of Manchu shamanism—court, clan, and wild shamanism—providing an in-depth analysis of historical accounts and ethnographic records. This research critically challenges Eliadean trance theory. Based on his examination of historical literature, Qu reveals that all three types of Manchu shamanic rituals revolve around calendrical sacrifices for blessings, thanksgiving, and harvest celebrations, as well as irregular sacrifices during times of calamity for healing, exorcising evil spirits, and seeking protection. Although trance was performed by the shaman in wild rituals to invoke spirits, it does not represent the ultimate purpose of these religious practices. His ethnographic observations of contemporary Manchu rituals demonstrate that both domestic and wild sacrifices form an integral part of a unified ritual process. His contribution situates these practices within a historical, social, and political context spanning several hundred years, arguing that shamanism among the Manchus is a dynamic, reactive, constitutive, and historically unstable process.

Like Qu’s approach, Jiang’s contribution also demonstrates that Manchu shamanism was continually reshaped by social and political changes. She highlights the significant role shamanic sacrifices played in the everyday lives of grassroots Manchu bannermen throughout the Qing Dynasty. Based on analyses of ritual books, clan genealogies, and personal journals, Jiang points out that, although Manchu bannermen were garrisoned in diverse locations across Manchuria, Beijing, and surrounding areas and experienced dramatic social changes during the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu clan system remained active in organizing shamanic rituals within the framework of the Eight Banners military system. This demonstrates how Manchu shamanic practices were deeply intertwined with social, economic, political, and even military elements.

Zhao and Zheng provide a case study of the unique sacrificial culture—the Qixiang sacrifice—among descendants of Han-Chinese army bannermen within the Manchu Eight Banners system during the Qing Dynasty. Based on field observations of the Qixiang ritual process of the Zhang clan in Gongtong Village, Wulajie Township, Jilin Province, they identify significant military elements in the rite: the five major spirits are military generals from ancient China; ritual performances include arrow shooting and broadsword playing; and historical legends, such as a general’s pre-battle preparations for a war horse (walking to the horse, feeding it, saddling it, tightening the girth, putting on the bridle, pulling the reins, mounting the horse, and shooting arrows from its back) and an army-leading emperor’s lament (beating his chest and weeping bitterly for fallen soldiers) are vividly enacted during the rituals. The authors argue that the Qixiang culture originated from the Han military ritual Maji of the Ming Dynasty’s army, later incorporating Manchu shamanic elements. Through this synthesis, the Han bannermen established a form of military shamanism, reflecting their dual identity as both Manchu and Han.

From the contributions, we observe how social transformations, along with political and military factors, have reshaped shamanic traditions and given rise to new ritual forms. The following three contributions, however, shift our focus to the tensions between modernity and tradition, globalization and locality, and the state and folk practices. Xing and Huang examine contemporary folk religion among the Tu group in western China, arguing that these practices play a crucial role in the modernization of farming and contribute to the construction of social order. Their field data reveal that rituals performed by specialists such as bo or fala serve to mediate conflicts within the Tu community. Local religious leaders play a dual role as both specialists and power brokers. They invoke spiritual power and engage with nonhuman entities not only as specialists mediating between human and nonhuman domains but also as local elites negotiating between communities and local governments. The active ritual practices of local religious organizations, led by these leaders, have thus facilitated a compromise between state policies and local realities. While Tu ritual activities continuously adapt to state policies in response to secularization and rationalization, they have also been successfully revived within the framework of state power, supported by heritage policies and the tourism industry.

Ni and Guo examine the transformation of the social role of Oroqen shamans in Daxinganling Oroqen communities, focusing on two significant socio-historical events. The first is the “Sending Away Spirits Ritual” of 1953, during which more than ten local shamans performed a ceremony to persuade spirits to leave human communities in response to the government’s prohibition of shamanic practices. The second event is the initiation ritual conducted in 2008, in which the shaman Guan Kouni passed on her shamanic lineage to her daughter, Guan Juhua. Ironically, this decision was made by the local government rather than by the shaman in accordance with traditional inheritance practices. In 2009, Guan Juhua tragically died in a car accident, and community members believe that the incident was a consequence of violating the customary rules of shamanic succession. Analyses of these two events suggest that Oroqen spiritual life and human relationships with nonhuman beings have been profoundly reshaped by social changes and political influences in the process of modernization and transformation. The authors argue that future shamanic practices hold multiple possibilities, as modernity brings new meanings to Oroqen shamanism, distinct from those of the past.

Liu applies Herzfeld’s cultural intimacy theory to examine the tensions between state discourse and shamanic practices in China. In frontier regions, she suggests that the recognition of shamanic traditions as cultural heritage has created a new space of cultural intimacy, effectively neutralizing the tension between local shamanic practices and official ideology. Based on her analysis of shamanic organizations, the intangible heritage processes led by local governments, and indigenous ritual practices, she argues that while shamanic culture among indigenous groups in North China is legitimized within official discourse as heritage and a tourism resource, it simultaneously fulfills public needs by facilitating connections between human and nonhuman worlds.

The following contributions illustrate the remarkable resilience of traditional knowledge in the face of globalization and modernization. Ju’s chapter explores human–animal relations in Beijing, drawing on historical and ethnographic data. Residents of Beijing refer to four “sacred” animals—the fox, hedgehog, weasel, and snake—as sidamen (meaning “Four Great Gates”), recognizing their deep interactions with humans in daily life. Through possession rituals performed by mediums, these animal spirits are believed to offer healing, prophecy, and conflict resolution within the community. Ju’s fieldwork reveals that local people perceive each animal spirit as an individual entity, complete with a name, body, address, and distinct personality within a broader social network. Many Beijing residents regard the Four Animal Spirits as human neighbors, possessing unique identities and a parallel society while coexisting with people in the urban landscape. These animal spirits are regarded as true agents, as they are believed to keenly perceive changes in human society and adapt their behavior accordingly. As the author suggests, the Four Animal Spirits system represents a form of local knowledge deeply rooted in the everyday experiences of Beijing residents. It is shaped by the historical and environmental context of the local society, reflecting the dynamic interaction between humans and nonhuman entities.

As an Indigenous scholar, Sa provides an emic perspective on the oboo sacrificial ritual among the Daur people in North China. Based on her participatory observation of the oboo sacrifice in the Morin-Dawaa Daur Autonomous Banner in 2014, she offers a detailed analysis of the system of deities and spirits, as well as the ritual process within Daur religious tradition. Her research reveals that the oboo sacrifice serves multiple functions, including invoking rain, ensuring favorable weather, securing abundant harvests, and fostering livestock prosperity. Most importantly, she highlights that the oboo ritual plays a crucial role in revitalizing the traditional clan system and serves as a key mechanism for strengthening internal clan unity.

Meng’s contribution examines the medical practice and evolution of Khorchin Mongolian bone-setting, highlighting the tensions between shamanic healing and modern medicine within the framework of Chinese state discourse. Based on his research, Meng identifies three primary forms of bone-setting therapy in contemporary Inner Mongolia: home-based practice, private clinics, and state-owned medical institutions. His findings reveal that home-based bone-setters are often well-known shamans in rural communities, while those in private clinics are typically shamans who have relocated from the countryside to urban areas. In contrast, bone-setters working in public hospitals tend to deliberately conceal the shamanic elements of their practice, instead presenting bone-setting as a form of traditional Mongolian medicine. In the context of China’s scientific, medical-oriented nation-state construction, the author highlights that contemporary Khorchin bone-setting practices are undergoing a transformation from a traditional shamanic healing practice into a more comprehensive medical system.

Zhao’s chapter explores the Scroll Chanting ritual among Han-Chinese in the Hexi region of Gansu Province. While specialists in the Scroll Chanting ritual may align more with the definition of ritualists rather than agricultural shamans if following Winkelman’s theory, we do not pursue these conceptual debates here. Nevertheless, Zhao provides a thorough analysis of the ritual process, belief system, notions of incarnation, as well as the scroll text. He argues that the healing power derives primarily from the construction of the ritual space, rather than from the scroll text itself. All elements within the sacred space—such as the text, offerings, spirit images, music, incense-burning aromas, talismans, and incarnations—are intertwined to create healing power. In his argument, the fundamental cause of illness is attributed to the imbalance in relationships—between people, between humans and nature, and between humans and the cosmos. Therefore, the primary method of treatment in the Scroll Chanting ritual focuses on maintaining harmony among the components of the system and restoring cosmic order.