Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:38:35.833Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fengshui, or the Search for a Very Human Dragon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Frédéric Obringer
Frédéric Obringer*
Affiliation:
CNRS - Centre for the Study of Modern and Contemporary China
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Fengshui is a practice and skill whose origins go back to Chinese antiquity. It is about finding the best possible arrangement in space to position a grave or a habitation in such a way that human beings who have a link with that place might have success and happiness. The basic idea is that a good geomantic site will fill the distant ancestors with peace in their grave and that they will thus do everything to help their family. The text deals with the history of fengshui, its methods as well as its conception of nature.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , August 2005 , pp. 55 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2005

References

Bruun, Ole (2003) Fengshui in China: Geomantic Divination between State Orthodoxy and Popular Religion. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Feuchtwang, Stephan D. R. (1974) An Anthropological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy. Vientiane: Vithagna.Google Scholar
Obringer, Frédéric (2001) Fengshui, l’art d’habiter la terre. Une poétique de l’espace et du temps. Arles: Éditions Philippe Picquier.Google Scholar
Ruitenbeek, Klaas (1993) Carpentry and Building in Late Imperial China. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Skinner, Stephen (1989) The Living Earth Manual of Feng-shui: Chinese Geomancy. London: Arkana.Google Scholar