This study explores the rise of the spirit-writing movement in modern China and focuses on the
Chaozhou ¿¿ region of Guangdong province (South China). Spirit-writing was a popular technique
to connect the human and the spirit world not unlike the use of the planchette in European
spiritualism. In spirit-writing séances two spirit-writers held a stylus to write messages
from the gods in a sand tray. From the nineteenth century spirit-writing cults sprang up
throughout China and became a national religious trend in response to the forces of modernity.
These cults were centered around a call for moral reform promoted through spirit-writing and
aimed to reorient traditional values. They developed in the context of disasters political
chaos and nativist movements. Through the distribution of morality books and the expansion of
sectarian groups spirit-writing cults in different regions shared similarities in their
revelations and several core religious themes. The spirit-writing movement was a both local and
nationwide phenomenon. Spirit-writing cults developed in the local context and integrated with
local society and culture. Therefore this study considers the Chaozhou spirit-writing movement
both as a local phenomenon and as part of a nationwide trend. In addition this study sheds
some light on other specific aspects of Chinese religions. First it uses many previously
unstudied texts to discuss the history of religions in Chaozhou. Second the spirit-writing
movement is critical to our understanding of local religions that we can observe today. Third
the important religious movement Dejiao originated from the Chaozhou spirit-writing movement
and was closely related to other spirit-writing cults. Fourth the Chaozhou case differs
distinctly from the spirit-writing movement in Taiwan which has dominated the research
literature so far.
