Zhao Hun

Summons of the Soul, Summoning of the Soul, or Zhao Hun (Chinese: 招魂, or, with old variant 招䰟; Pinyin: Zhāo Hún) is one of the poems anthologized in the ancient Chinese poetry collection, the Chu Ci.

The first part consists of a few lines with no clear relationship to the rest of the poem.

The second part is a prolog in the form of a conversation in heaven, in which God (帝) orders the Ancestor Shaman Wu Yang (巫陽) to go down below to earth and help out in the case of someone whose soul has wandered off.

Part three is the actual summoning of the soul, by means of threats and temptations.

(Hawkes, 2011 [1985]: 222) The authorship of "Summons of the Soul" has been attributed to Qu Yuan, but Song Yu is more likely.