ABSTRACT
Yen and her husband both worked as goldsmiths in Shanghai. In 2004, Yen started having dreams about having long conversations with her husband’s dead grandfather. It was, she supposed, the dead man’s spirit appearing and disturbing her. Her husband found her sometimes saying nothing all day, looking worried, and sometimes quarrelling with everybody. She became disoriented, and was sent to a hospital. Doctors diagnosed her as having mental disorder, but her situation did not improve after staying in hospital. At this time, Yen’s family brought a Taoist priest, who decided that Yen was possessed by two malevolent spirits, and had to return to the couple’s hometown, H town, in Fujian coastal area, so as to receive extended exorcist rituals. Following this instruction and on returning to H town, she became more violent, and started hitting her husband and tried to drown her baby in the sea. Yen was hence sent to live with a female shaman in a Buddhist temple for a month, but to no avail. The family heard that the Protestant house church group in their town was reputed for being capable exorcists, and, after some inner battle, sought the help of Jesus. They took away statues of gods, ancestral altars and related religious articles in the house, and invited Christians praying for them everyday. Yen regained normality after a week, and most of the family members subsequently turned to the Christian faith.
