Contemporary Northeast Chinese Shamanism in the Interaction Between Public Heritage and Private Belief

Summary

Private shamanism in Northeast China has gained legal recognition as part of the national heritage management system since 2004, allowing it to be regulated as public heritage while avoiding religious connotations. This study explores how public heritage and private belief interact, revealing a bidirectional influence where public heritage emerges from private practices, and private beliefs gain visibility through public recognition. This challenges the idea that recognizing heritage diminishes faith.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Since China’s accession to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2004, private shamanism, centered around the sacred belief of “connecting heaven and earth”, has for the first time been incorporated into the national heritage management system with legal legitimacy, becoming regulated public heritage on the condition of avoiding religious attributes. Through fieldwork and historical analysis, this paper examines the interaction between public heritage and private belief in contemporary Northeast Chinese shamanism. The research reveals the mutual influence between the public and private domains of shamanic ritual practices, with a new synthesis or symbiotic relationship emerging across these domains, which is manifested in two main aspects: first, the “generation of the public from the private”, exemplified by the emergence of the public heritage associated with shamanism, and second, the “promotion of the private by the public”, where the sacred private belief expands its existential space with the assistance of newly recognized public heritage. This bidirectional interaction model challenges the conventional notion that “heritagization leads to the decline of faith”, offering a novel interpretive framework for understanding the contemporary transformation of ritual systems.

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