Ritual and Narrative: An Analysis of Survival Resilience in Folk Shamanic Rituals in Tales of Hulan River
Religions July 16, 2026 Qi Zhao, Ruijia Zhang
Folk shamanic rituals in Xiao Hong's novel Tales of Hulan River exhibit a form of survival resilience that operates across material, spiritual, and cultural dimensions. Material resilience involves making reasonable choices under scarcity, fostering critical thinking, and grappling with contingency and eternity. Spiritual resilience provides psychological comfort, motivates goodness, and offers a sense of transcendence. Cultural resilience unites the community around shared goals, promotes pragmatic values, and sustains the rituals themselves. The article argues that these rituals are crucial to understanding the novel's narrative ideas and should not be overlooked in literary analysis.