Charles Leslie and Allan Young
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520073173
- eISBN:
- 9780520910935
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520073173.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
Chinese geomancy has at least two faces. One is that of the learned professor, who uses pseudoscientific texts to articulate a theoretical model relating physical features of the environment to ...
More
Chinese geomancy has at least two faces. One is that of the learned professor, who uses pseudoscientific texts to articulate a theoretical model relating physical features of the environment to categories of space, time, and energetic forces. The other face of geomancy is that of the craftsman who applies geomantic principles to common problems. According to Chinese geomantic thinking, the nature of human fate is determined by the interaction of heaven and earth, of what is above with what is below. This chapter examines this aspect of geomancy among the rural Chinese of Taiwan. It discusses the relation between the living and their ancestors' graves from the perspective of the craftsman who actually exhumes the bones during the secondary burial. It shows how individual and familial well-being depend on the transformation that the bodies of one's ancestors experience in the grave.Less
Chinese geomancy has at least two faces. One is that of the learned professor, who uses pseudoscientific texts to articulate a theoretical model relating physical features of the environment to categories of space, time, and energetic forces. The other face of geomancy is that of the craftsman who applies geomantic principles to common problems. According to Chinese geomantic thinking, the nature of human fate is determined by the interaction of heaven and earth, of what is above with what is below. This chapter examines this aspect of geomancy among the rural Chinese of Taiwan. It discusses the relation between the living and their ancestors' graves from the perspective of the craftsman who actually exhumes the bones during the secondary burial. It shows how individual and familial well-being depend on the transformation that the bodies of one's ancestors experience in the grave.
