Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism, refers to the shamanicreligious tradition of China. Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture. Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion. Various ritual traditions are rooted in original Chinese shamanism: contemporary Chinese ritual masters are sometimes identified as wu by outsiders, though most orders don't self-identify as such. Also Taoism has some of its origins from Chinese shamanism: it developed around the pursuit of long life, or the status of a xian.
Meaning of ''wu''
The Chinese word wu 巫 "shaman, wizard", indicating a person who can mediate with the powers generating things, was first recorded during the Shang dynasty, when a wu could be either sex. During the late Zhou dynastywu was used to specify "female shaman; sorceress" as opposed to xi 覡 "male shaman; sorcerer". Other sex-differentiated shaman names include nanwu 男巫 for "male shaman; sorcerer; wizard"; and nüwu 女巫, wunü 巫女, wupo 巫婆, and wuyu 巫嫗 for "female shaman; sorceress; witch". The word tongji 童乩 "shaman; spirit-medium" is a near-synonym of wu. Modern Chinese distinguishes native wu from "Siberian shaman": saman 薩滿 or saman 薩蠻; and from Indian Shramana "wandering monk; ascetic": shamen 沙門, sangmen 桑門, or sangmen 喪門. Berthold Laufer proposed an etymological relation between Mongolianbügä "shaman", Turkishbögü "shaman", Chinese bu, wu, buk, puk, and Tibetanaba. Coblin puts forward a Sino-Tibetan root * "magician; sorcerer" for Chinese wu < mju < *mjag 巫 "magician; shaman" and Written Tibetan 'ba'-po "sorcerer" and 'ba'-mo "sorcereress". Further connections are to the bu-mo priests of Zhuang Shigongism and the bi-mo priests of Bimoism, the Yi indigenous faith. Also Korean mu 무 is cognate to Chinese wu 巫.
Early history
The Chinese religion from the Shang dynasty onwards developed around ancestral worship. The main gods from this period are not forces of nature in the Sumerian way, but deified virtuous men. The ancestors of the emperors were called di, and the greatest of them was called Shangdi. He is identified with the dragon, symbol of the universal power. Cosmic powers dominate nature: the Sun, the Moon, stars, winds and clouds were considered informed by divine energies. The earthgod isShe or Tu. The Shang period had two methods to enter in contact with divine ancestors: the first is the numinous-mystical wu practice, involving dances and trances; and the second is the method of the oracle bones, a rational way. The Zhou dynasty, succeeding the Shang, was more rooted in an agricultural worldview. They opposed the ancestor-gods of the Shang, and gods of nature became dominant. The utmost power in this period was named Tian. With Di he forms the whole cosmos in a complementary duality.
Qing period
The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty introduced substantial elements of Tungusic shamanism to China. Hong Taiji put shamanistic practices in the service of the state, notably by forbidding others to erect new shrines for ritual purposes. In the 1620s and 1630s, the Qing ruler conducted shamanic sacrifices at the tangse of Mukden, the Qing capital. In 1644, as soon as the Qing seized Beijing to begin their conquest of China, they named it their new capital and erected an official shamanic shrine there. In the Beijingtangse and in the women's quarters of the Forbidden City, Qing emperors and professional shamans conducted shamanic ceremonies until the abdication of the dynasty in 1912. In 1747 the Qianlong Emperor commissioned the publication of a Shamanic Code to revive and regulate shamanic practices, which he feared were becoming lost. He had it distributed to Bannermen to guide their practice, but we know very little about the effect of this policy. Mongols and Han Chinese were forbidden to attend shamanic ceremonies. Partly because of their secret aspect, these rituals attracted the curiosity of Beijing dwellers and visitors to the Qing capital. French Jesuit Joseph-Marie Amiot published a study on the Shamanic Code, "Rituels des Tartares Mandchous déterminés et fixés par l'empereur comme chef de sa religion". In 1777 the Qianlong Emperor ordered the code translated into Chinese for inclusion in the Siku quanshu. The Manchu version was printed in 1778, whereas the Chinese-language edition, titled Qinding Manzhou jishen jitian dianli, was completed in 1780 or 1782. Even though this "Shamanic Code" did not fully unify shamanic practice among the Bannermen, it "helped systematize and reshape what had been a very fluid and diverse belief system."
Northeast shamanism
Shamanism is practiced in Northeast China and is considered different from those of central and southern Chinese folk religion, as it resulted from interaction of Han religion with folk religion practices of other Tungustic people such as Manchu shamanism. The shaman would perform various ritual functions for groups of believers and local communities, such as moon drum dance and chūmǎxiān.
