Liu Qing 
Verbal Allusions 

The original meaning of verbal allusion is the "argot" of the bandits in Northeast China, such as "Sky King covers ground tiger, Precious tower shocks river monster". In the book, the author construes it as Word of Mouth. Verbal Allusions represents the ethnic history and folk history from mouth to mouth. According to legend, every departed shaman will become a "person coming back home", who is given a chance to be attached to later generations of shamans. The possessed shaman will sing all night, use wood or a stone to knock out various melodies with beats, learn to tweet like various tits, and dance on the pig which will not run away. The soul-bound shamans tell their family”s and their own stories that constitute "verbal allusions" to be told like water flowing in the river. Mandou is a destined shaman, but he has to use his life to refuse the fate to become a shaman. Mandou has a pair of "cat eyes", with magical night vision ability. When Mandou was 12, a circus came to his village and there was a Vase Girl called Su Nian in the circus. For the joke of the little girl to ask for help, Mandou embarked on a strange journey. He and Su Nian were hijacked by the bandits to Wangliangzhai Village. Thanks to his magical night vision ability, he survived during the transformation of Wangliangzhai Village into an ideal village. In the camp of the North Korean patriots, Mandou became a comrade-in-arms and then an anti-union solider. Later, as an advanced man of the Soviet army that marched into Northeast China, he lost his memory due to error in parachuting.