ON FENGSHUI IN SOUTHEASTERN CHINA
75
phenomena. Fêngshui is a ritual language: a set of symbols and ways of combining these symbols into ritual statements. The fêngshui language is largely shared and understood by all Chinese and it provides an important instrument in Chinese society for a diffusion of local ideas into the larger society. The system of symbols can also be manipulated; individuals in the process of maximizing their resources employ special techniques — ‘geomancy’ — to discover and map localized symbolic sub-systems. Natural surroundings are explored in terms of fêngshui. The natural influences the interaction between the symbols can be played upon to the benefit of the player. This facet of fêngshui has recently been discussed in anthropological literature. The argument of this paper is concerned with its communicative aspect.
The fêngshui influences of a given ecological setting are of extreme importance to the people who are dependent on this setting. They are not static, but are changing in 60-year cycles. The fêngshui has a bearing not only on the particular individuals, but is equally important for the whole localized group. The effect of the influences can be measured in terms of good or bad fortune; the latter experienced in few sons, bad crops, and so on. In the same way as individuals are maximizing their resources, a whole community may try to manipulate the fêngshui. An example of this was to be found in Grass Field Village, further up the valley mentioned above. A most striking feature in the scenery there is one of the two peaks of the imposing mountain Maanshan (Ma On Shan) peeping up from behind the lower mountain ridges surrounding the village. Villagers explained that they always have a feeling that this mountain top is watching them from above. Apparently this watching implied a negative influence; people tried to check it by planting trees on the ridge in order to screen off the sinister mountain top. However, during the Japanese Occupation these trees were cut down, fuel being reckoned then as more essential than negative influences.
On the other hand, one seldom finds a general agreement as to the positive or negative character of the fêngshui influences in a certain setting. Poor people tend to regard the fêngshui of their locality as a 'killing breath', while better-off persons in the same settlement may say that it is after all ‘not too bad'. Fêngshui language, then, is used to express social and economic differentiation.
ON FENGSHUI IN SOUTHEASTERN CHINA
75
phenomena. Fêngshut is a ritual language: a set of symbols and ways of combining these symbols into ritual statements. The fêng- shui language is largely shared and understood by all Chinese and it provides an important instrument in Chinese society for a diffu- sion of local ideas into the larger society. The system of symbols can also be manipulated; individuals in the process of maximizing their resources employ special techniques — ‘geomancy” — to dis- cover and map localized symbolic sub-systems. Natural surround- ings are explored in terms of fêngshui. The natural influences the interaction between the symbols can be played upon to the benefit of the player. This facet of fêngshui has recently been discussed in anthropological literature. The argument of this paper is concerned with its communicative aspect.
The fengshui influences of a given ecological setting are of extreme importance to the people who are dependent on this set- ting. They are not static, but are changing in 60-year cycles. The fêngshui has a bearing not only on the particular individuals, but is equally important for the whole localized group. The effect of the influences can be measured in terms of good or bad fortune; the latter experienced in few sons, bad crops, and so on. In the same way as individuals are maximizing their resources, a whole community may try to manipulate the fêngshui. An example of this was to be found in Grass Field Village, further up the valley mentioned above. A most striking feature in the scenery there is one of the two peaks of the imposing mountain Maanshan (Ma On Shan) peeping up from behind the lower mountain ridges sur- rounding the village. Villagers explained that they always have a feeling that this mountain top is watching them from above. Ap- parently this watching implied a negative influence; people tried to check it by planting trees on the ridge in order to screen off the sinister mountain top. However, during the Japanese Occupation these trees were cut down, fuel being reckoned then as more es- sential than negative influences, 3
On the other hand, one seldom finds a general agreement as to the positive or negative character of the fêngshui influences in a certain setting. Poor people tend to regard the fengshui of their locality as a 'killing breath', while better-off persons in the same settlement may say that it is after all ‘not too bad'. Fêngshui lan- guage, then, is used to express social and economic differentiation.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.