Tongji (spirit medium)
Tongji or Jitong is a Chinese folk religious practitioner, usually translated as a "spirit medium", "oracle", or "shaman".
This word compounds tong "child; youth; boy servant" and ji "to divine". Regional variants include Hokkien tâng-ki 童乩 and Cantonese gei-tung 乩童 or san-daa 神打.
A tongji or jitong is a person believed to have been chosen by a particular shen 神 "god; spirit" as the earthly vehicle for divine expression. The Chinese differentiate a wu 巫 "shaman; healer; spirit medium" who gains control of forces in the spirit world versus a tongji who appears to be entirely under the control of forces in the spirit world.
