Abstract

As a religious phenomenon of humankind, shamanism has a very long history, and its earliest records go back several millennia even to the Stone Age. Although it is not universally present in every society, its global presence has been felt in nearly every corner of the world. Shamanism has also been and continues to be present throughout East Asia, and it has played a definite role in Chinese religions. It has also exerted a decisive influence in certain traditions of early Chinese poetry that continued throughout traditional China. This article discusses certain erotic images and features of a foundational collection of shamanic poetry from the southern state of Chu in early China, called the Nine Songs, which were collected into the anthology called the Songs of the South. This presentation looks at the logic of eroticism at the heart of these performances that functions in accord with yin-yang ideology, and it examines what the Nine Songs can show us about certain features of early Chinese religion and philosophy.