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or resisting them (and running the risk of being accused of denying the original undertaking by the British Government to respect local beliefs and customs). It is not to be wondered at that present-day administrators sometimes appear to be reluctant protectors of popular faith. They probably feel themselves caught in a situation where they are being exploited by the unscrupulous for the respect they show for their religion.
67. Cynical and selfish exploiters there no doubt are, but the problem cannot be dismissed so simply. For if these men are able to put forward strong cases it is because they have behind them a public opinion firmly rooted in geomantic faith. There is every indication that the fung shui objections are now being raised on an unusually large scale. It was to be expected. In the full flood of rural development traditional rights are bound to be increasingly affected. The system of geomancy is so complex, the alternatives in interpretation so numerous, that a fung shui case can be brought against anything at all that meets with the disapproval of the country people. Any work undertaken by the Administration can be said to be harmful in geomancy. But it can also be judged to be geomantically beneficial if local opinion is in favour of its practical worth. (I know a community where a proposed new road is being urged precisely on the grounds that it will help remedy a natural defect in the geomantic conformation of the front aspect of the village). But it is not to be assumed that people are making a coldly rational translation of their practical wishes into the language of geomancy. They may be rationalising, as the psychologist might put it, but they are not hypocrites.
68. Faced by its dilemma the Administration must fall back on what it considers to be a practical formula: fung shui objections will be heeded if they are 'reasonable'. What is 'reasonable'? It would be interesting to know. As far as I can see, 'reasonable' is taken to be assessable by the sincerity of the objectors. If they seem to believe what they assert, and there is no evidence that they are misrepresenting facts (as, for example, about the ownership of graves), then a case has been made and the Administration must in some measure yield. Of course, it is not necessary to yield; a 'tough' policy would almost certainly work, in the sense that objections would become fewer and people accustomed to the fact that they are no longer in a position to get their way. (There must have been times in the history of the New Territories when a firm resistance...
SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963
233
or resisting them (and running the risk of being accused of denying the original undertaking by the British Government to respect local beliefs and customs). It is not to be wondered at that present-day administrators sometimes appear to be reluctant protectors of popular faith. They probably feel themselves caught in a situation where they are being exploited by the unscrupulous for the respect they show for their religion.
67. Cynical and selfish exploiters there no doubt are, but the problem cannot be dismissed so simply. For if these men are able to put forward strong cases it is because they have behind them a public opinion firmly rooted in geomantic faith. There is every indication that the fung shui objections are now being raised on an unusually large scale. It was to be expected. In the full flood of rural development traditional rights are bound to be increasingly affected. The system of geomancy is so complex, the alternatives in interpretation so numerous, that a fung shui case can be brought against anything at all that meets with the disapproval of the coun- try people. Any work undertaken by the Administration can be said to be harmful in geomancy. But it can also be judged to be geomantically beneficial if local opinion is in favour of its practica! worth. (I know a community where a proposed new road is being urged precisely on the grounds that it will help remedy a natural defect in the geomantic conformation of the front aspect of the village). But it is not to be assumed that people are making a coldly rational translation of their practical wishes into the language of geomancy. They may be rationalising, as the psychologist might put it, but they are not hypocrites.
68. Faced by its dilemma the Administration must fall back on what it considers to be a practical formula: fung shui objections will be heeded if they are 'reasonable'. What is 'reasonable"? It would be interesting to know. As far as I can see, ‘reasonable' is taken to be assessable by the sincerity of the objectors. If they seem to believe what they assert, and there is no evidence that they are misrepresenting facts (as, for example, about the ownership of graves), then a case has been made and the Administration must in some measure yield. Of course, it is not necessary to yield; a 'tough' policy would almost certainly work, in the sense that objec- tions would become fewer and people accustomed to the fact that they are no longer in a position to get their way. (There must have been times in the history of the New Territories when a firm resis-
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