Arthur Waley’s The Nine Songs invites you into ancient China’s spirit world, where shamans, dances, and ritual songs shape belief and daily life.

The book surveys the tradition of wu, or spirit intermediaries, exploring how they exorcise, prophesy, heal, and connect with the powers of death and the heavens. It places these practices in historical and cultural context, showing how Confucian reform and social change affected the standing of shamans and their art. Through commentary on the Nine Songs, you’ll gain a clearer view of how ritual, myth, and social structure intertwined in early Chinese culture.

• How shamans served as intermediaries between people and Spirits, and the different methods attributed to them


• Historical attitudes toward shamanism and how it rose or fell in official culture


• Details about the Lords of Lives and other deities, and what their myths reveal about ancient beliefs


• Connections between these songs, ritual practices, and broader East Asian spiritual traditions

Ideal for readers of Asian history, folklore, and Chinese literature who seek a carefully argued, scholarly introduction to a key aspect of ritual life.

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