A Comparative Study On Shamanism Music Of Manchu Chinese And Witchcraft Music Of Korean Chinese

Shamanism and witchcraft both originated from primitive religion, which is also called natural religion. The primitive religion is one of the oldest belief forms of various religions. Ancestors of every ethnic experienced primitive religion for a long time. China is a country of many ethnics and also of many religions. Some trace of primitive religion can be found in some ethnic minorities. Consequently, such ethnic minorities also still keep some trace of primitive religion’s musical culture.This thesis mainly compared the basic rhythmic patterns in the Shamanism music of Manchu Chinese and that in the witchcraft music of Korean Chinese, found their similarities and differences, analyzed and described the problems.Firstly, it analyzed the history of Shamanism in both ethnics, and found proof for both ethnics’belief in Shamanism in different periods based on existing history records. Shamanism was a cultural form widely existing in human’s society. It penetrated almost all the periods in history. It was a folk religion based on totemism and witchcraft, appearing in ethnics from all over the world.Secondly, this thesis concluded the basic rhythmic patterns in Shamanism music and witchcraft music of both ethnics. In the history of Shamanism sacrifice, music was an important instrument. Words of God in the sacrificial ceremony were usually in the form of "singing". Shamanism music showed information about primitive humans’ life habit, art culture, and religion and so on.Finally, based on a comparative study of art and ethnonymics, this thesis described the similarities and differences of the basic rhythmic patterns in Shamanism music and witchcraft music, and concluded step by step.