happens during the possession). They also practise a communication with ancestors through an ecstatic experience called guòyīn ( "passing to the underworld"). This is part of the practices of both chumaxian and related communal rites of broader Chinese local religion. Northeastern Chinese shamanism shares similarities with Southern Chinese mediumship (jitong), Japanese Shinto practices, and various other shamanisms in the region (Tungus and Manchu shamanism, Mongolian shamanism, Korean shamanism, broader Siberian shamanism). Historically it is the result of the encounter of Han Chinese and Manchu cultures, especially the Han cult of the fox and Manchu "wild ritual" (wuwate, Chinese: yějì ). Northeastern Chinese shamans are predominantly women, like the shamans of Northeast Asian shamanism, while Southern Chinese mediums are almost exclusively men. Moreover, while northeastern shamans are usually independent from formal religious institutions, southern medium specialists often collaborate with Taoist priests. Another distinction is that while Southern Chinese mediums can acquire their role through training, and they are possessed mainly by Taoist and strictly Chinese Deities, northeastern shamans are "chosen" or "ordained" by gods themselves (through mo, "sickness") as in other shamanic traditions, and their gods are animal totems. When a future disciple is chosen, she experiences mo ("sickness"). Places of worship and shaman halls In northeast China terminology for religious places and groups may follow the common Chinese model, with miao () defining any "sacred precinct" dedicated to a god. However, a different terminology exists and temples may be called xiāntáng ( "hall of the immortals") or tángzi (), the latter name inherited from the temples of the bolongzi (Chinese: jiājì , "ancestral ritual") of Manchu shamanism. Shamans also hold "immediate halls" of worship (lìtáng ) in their houses. Folk religious sects Since Chinese Buddhism and professional Taoism were never well developed in northeast China, the religious life of the region has been heavily influenced by networks of folk salvationist sects and Confucian churches, characterised by a congregational structure and a scriptural core. During the Japanese occupation they weren't studied, but their role as a moral catalyser for the Han race was emphasised. The Yiguandao ( "Consistent Way") had a strong presence in the area, but were especially the Guiyidao ( "Way of the Return to the One") and the Shanrendao ( "Way of the Virtuous Man", which social body was known as the Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue) to have millions of followers in Manchuria alone.