The concentration of this monograph on Chinese spirit mediumship in Singapore is chiefly a device for focussing attention upon the most typical, although rather extreme, manifestation of the major religious orientation of the overseas Chinese. The accounts given here may chiefly be of value as a detailed record of religious rites, but it is hoped that the rites, shown in their institutional context, can also throw some light upon the wider ramifications of culture and society among the Chinese
