Tongji (spirit medium)
Chinese folk religious practitioner
Tongji (Chinese: 童乩; pinyin: tóngjī; Wade–Giles: t'ung-chi; lit. 'youth diviner'; Tâi-lô: tâng-ki) or Jitong (Chinese: 乩童; pinyin: jītóng; Wade–Giles: chi-t'ung; lit. 'divining youth') is a Chinese folk religious practitioner, usually translated as a "spirit medium", "oracle", or "shaman".
Tong (Vietnamese: ʔdoŋ; Mon: doŋ) has an Austroasiatic substrate which means 'to dance
under daemonic possession' is represented phonologically by the character 童 "child; youth; boy servant" and ji 乩 means "to divine" (cf. fuji 扶乩 "divination; planchette writing"). 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 (chinese deity) or 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.
External links and references
Andersen, Poul. 2008.
The public source identifies “Tongji (spirit medium)” as chinese folk religious practitioner. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tongji, spirit and medium.
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