The term 'Luo Dong Hua Nu' originated from folk beliefs, but since Mr. Shen Congwen wrote about Western Hunan, the three evils of Western Hunan—gu magic, corpse driving, and Gangxian—have become representative.
In Mr. Shen Congwen's writings, 'Gangxian' generally refers to fortune-telling witches and shamans, similar to what is now called 'Chuma Xian', i.e., individuals possessed by demons or evil spirits who practice cultivation, while 'Luo Dong' belongs to a type of regional culture.
The concept of 'Luo Dong' is clearly described in Mr. Shen Congwen's works: "All women who fall into Luo Dong must have bright eyes, pure and gentle temperaments, and be intelligent and beautiful. They must be unmarried, passionate, and good at adornment. Usually, they live chastely and quietly, with intense emotions not outwardly displayed, turning to many fantasies. Occasionally going out, they think that at some unintentional moment they passed by a cave, and the Cave God glanced at them and was pleased with them. Therefore, they love solitude more, love sitting quietly, love cleanliness, and sometimes even talk to themselves, often believing that the Cave God has come to see them riding clouds and rainbows. This abstract god may resemble the appearance in legends, or the idol in temples remembered from memory, or the shape of snakes and tigers, which are common yet feared by women."
Simply put: A woman suffering from Luo Dong is one who, after passing by an intersection in the wild, returns home exhibiting mental abnormalities, showing strong signs of autism or depression (being possessed).
At the same time, Mr. Shen commented: "As for Luo Dong, it is truly a tragedy of intertwined human and divine elements, more tragic than the two types of women's diseases mentioned above. Local custom places extreme suppression on women's sexual behavior, making it the highest morality. The formation of this moral concept stems from soldiers becoming the complete rulers of the region. Due to their duties, soldiers must often leave their families and go out, gaining experience with women outside; they must strengthen this moral view to maintain their exclusive sexual emotions and facts. Therefore, the local people consider nothing more ugly than a woman being unchaste, or a man allowing his wife to have an affair. If a woman has no family constraints and voluntarily liberates herself, even unrelated bystanders can capture her and parade her naked through the streets to show public rejection........."
"Since the suppression women suffer in sexual behavior is so harsh, a married woman, due to household chores and daughters' diligence, weaving cloth all day, spinning hemp, making pickles, and if the family is well-off, playing dominoes, can still divert her emotions and not become mentally ill. An unmarried woman, especially one who loves beauty and cleanliness, is educated and intelligent, may, due to precocious maturity or late marriage, face greater suppression in emotional aspects, easily turning into a pathological state. Since the place is in the border Miao villages, the Miao people's semi-primitive supernatural views affect everyone, forming a huge power. Trees, caves, and rocks have gods everywhere. Foxes, tigers, snakes, and turtles, all things are spirits. Gods or spirits vary in beauty, ugliness, good, and evil in legends, all endowed with human nature. Because mutual love between people and current moral concepts are in extreme conflict, legends of love between humans and spirits arise. The suppressed emotions of women in sexuality find an outlet through this. Luo Dong is a form of intertwined human and divine love. The tragedy hidden behind is equal to the beautiful components seen on the surface."
Mr. Shen attempted to classify the phenomenon of Luo Dong as a mental issue and believed that the root cause of mental issues is the long-term oppression suffered by women.
This argument may have been reasonable in its time, but in modern times, we still find that although many women have greatly liberated themselves, they still inevitably encounter the 'Luo Dong' phenomenon—i.e., severe mental abnormalities such as autism or depression.
The reason it is generally unsolvable is mostly due to limited capabilities; after all, witchcraft is not the orthodox method, so there is nothing to be done about stubborn evil spirits. For matters like 'Luo Dong Hua Nu', it ultimately pushes the blame onto human-divine romance.
This deception (or perhaps not intentional active deception) is mostly used as a comforting explanation to let the parents of these mentally abnormal women believe that although their daughters cannot be cured, it is a love with a god, which is ultimately good, and can largely alleviate the pain.
Many online copies mistakenly transcribed 'Luo Dong Hua Nu' as 'Luo Hua Dong Nu', all due to ignorance of the origin of the term 'Luo Dong'.