Studies on the Present Status of Mantic Arts in China
The research explores the status and importance of mantic arts in today's China and reveals their common characteristics with European divination rituals. The intended research question is, “Are mantic arts popular in China and, if so, to what extent are they used in today's China?” The tasks to be fulfilled may include: defining the term “mantic arts”, and creating a classification of mantic arts in modern China; finding out which mantic arts or rituals are popular and which are not; studying the fields, methods and goals of application of mantic arts and divination rituals in China today; and exploring whether common divination rituals exist in modern Europe. The background literature will include books by Richard J. Smith, articles by Marc Kalinowski, as well as books comparing the divination practices in China and Europe, respectively. The methodological design includes an analysis of the written sources, content analysis and field work. The research will probably adopt the following structure: Introduction; Background; Three Chapters; and the Theoretical and Practical Results.
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