All over Northeast China

Eventually, Fu was appointed head of a research office for ethnic culture in Northeast China. He set about sorting out the ulabun works passed down in his family, and also traveled around Northeast China looking for ulabun works of other families. The more voluminous works took months to narrate in performance, therefore a good mastery of the related work was required. Fu devised special methods using graphs, pictures and cards to assist performers in remembering the stories.

In the 1970s, in the wake of the “cultural revolution” (1966-1976), discussions on ethnic cultural heritage were taboo. It was extremely difficult to collect materials relating to folk arts. Elderly shamans and folk artists were hesitant to take part in interviews for fear of persecution. In order to reassure these seniors of the good intentions of his research team, Fu often stayed with the interviewees for several days, living and working together with them and earning their trust.

The enthusiasm and devotion of the researchers moved the interviewees, and they eventually agreed to share their stories. Fu’s patience and sensitivity was rewarded – the researchers uncovered a large number of oracles transcribed by Manchu shamans and original scripts used for shamanist nature worship ceremonies. Genealogical documents on Manchu clans, ancestors’ portraits, objects for worshiping ceremonies and many other valuable cultural relics were thus discovered and showcased to the world.