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EARTH GOD AND VILLAGE SHRINES
IN THE NEW TERRITORIES OF HONG KONG
RICHARD WEBB
The investigation of spiritual landscapes and sacred places is traditionally the task of the geography of religions, itself a branch of cultural geography (Fickelei, 1962). Geographers who have examined sacred space as an expression of landscape include, and are summarized by, Mansberger (1991).
Within the set of traditional beliefs known as fung shui, in the New Territories of Hong Kong, the material prosperity of the community and its individual members depends upon that community being located in particular harmony with the landscape and in maintaining that harmony. It is a landscape, moreover, which encompasses not only the physical and aesthetic landform, but also, it is believed, the spiritual, less tangible landscape manifestations of powerful Earth forces, seen as natural hazards, which if not controlled, may adversely affect that community. However, the control of these forces and a reduction of these hazards often has a sound practical basis in a region beset by typhoons and landslips and practising wet-rice farming (Lovelace, 1983). In many ways, therefore, the landscape of the New Territories valleys and the reasons why earth god shrines, the fung shui woods behind traditional villages, and even individually venerated trees are located where they are, and why they have survived periods of adversity and cultural change, has much to do with a spiritual interpretation of that landscape.
At its most basic, fung shui is the study of the environmental and intangible forces which influence human destiny and well-being (Lo, 1992). "The art of living in harmony with the land and deriving the greatest benefit, peace and prosperity from being in the right place at the right time is called feng shui" (Skinner, 1982). Lovelace (1983) looks at the very close parallels between fung shui and the practice of wet rice agriculture and reveals the practical basis of much fung shui lore. A detailed analysis of the relationship between fung shui and the development of a typical yet specific New Territories village is provided by Hase (1992).