I’d Barely Started My Career When the State Recruited Me

Everyone talks about spirit mediums, but who knows that long before they were called that, they were known as shamans? It was the oldest survival wisdom born on this barren land. Our ancestors bent over the earth beneath the open sky, relying on the weather for their harvests. Unable to understand the unpredictable storms, thunder, and lightning, or the mysteries of life, aging, sickness, and death, they entrusted all their questions and fears to the unseen gods. Shamans served as messengers between the human and spirit worlds. Later, waves of settlers from the Central Plains poured into the Northeast. The incense-and-prayer traditions they brought with them gradually blended with the local shamanic spirit-calling rites. In time, these practitioners came to be known as spirit mediums, and those who could invite spirits into their bodies to read fortunes and ward off misfortune became known as spirit mediums of the immortals. People say that spirit mediums are backed by the four great clans: Hu, Huang, Chang, and Mang. But the twists and intricacies of this tradition take at least three to five years to understand. Many people see a spirit medium sitting by the kang, solving someone’s troubles with just a few words. They don’t know that every medium who establishes a proper altar has countless strange experiences and unbelievable stories behind them.