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Mair provides archaeological and linguistic evidence that Chinese wū < *m y ag 巫 "shaman; witch, wizard; magician" was a loanword from Old Persian *maguš "magician; magus". [26] Mair connects the bronze script character for wū 巫 with the " cross potent " symbol ☩ found in Neolithic West Asia, suggesting the loan of both the symbol and ...
Fangshi are first recorded in early Chinese canonical Twenty-Four Histories: Sima Qian's (c. 91 BCE) Shiji 史記 Records of the Grand Historian, Ban Gu's (82 CE) Hanshu 漢書 Book of Han, Chen Shou's (289 CE) Sanguozhi 三國志 Records of Three Kingdoms, and Fan Ye's (445 CE) Houhanshu 後漢書 Book of Later Han.
Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism (Chinese: 巫教; pinyin: wū jiào; lit. 'wu religion', 'shamanism', 'witchcraft'; alternatively 巫觋宗教 wū xí zōngjiào), refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China. [1] [2] Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture. [3]
In ancient times, magic played a significant role in societies such as ancient Egypt and Babylonia, as evidenced by historical records. In the Middle East , references to magic can be found in the Torah and the Quran, where witchcraft is condemned due to its association with belief in magic , as it is within other Abrahamic religions .
The Quanzhen School of Daoism had a variety of definitions about what xian means during its history, including a metaphorical meaning where the term simply means a good, principled person. [3] Xian have been venerated from ancient times to the modern day in a variety of ways across different cultures and religious sects in China. [4] [5] [6]
Chinese Bronzeware script for wu 巫 "shaman" Victor H. Mair (1990) suggested that Chinese wū (巫 "shaman; witch, wizard; magician") may originate as a loanword from Old Persian *maguš "magician; magi". Mair reconstructs an Old Chinese * m y ag. [35] The reconstruction of Old Chinese forms is somewhat speculative.
Under the rule of the Xuande emperor and the influence of the Ministry of Rites, Ming China began to crack down on shamanism and its practices. [10] This was mainly due to the rise in the number of elite doctors and medical experts in Ming who saw the acceptance of Shaman healers as a threat to their jobs and society. [11]
In Chinese mythology, Dongfang is considered a Daoist xian ("transcendent; immortal") and the spirit of Venus who incarnated as a series of ancient ministers including Laozi. Dongfang Shuo is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu (無雙譜, Table of Peerless Heroes) by Jin Guliang.