For well over a century Chinese fengshui, or geomancy, has fascinated western laymen and scholars. The focus of this academic study is on fengshui's significance in China and the author's argument that fengshui serves as an alternative tradition of cosmological knowledge which is used to explain a range of everyday occurrences in rural areas such as disease, mental disorders, accidents and common mischief. For well over a century, Chinese fengshui - or 'geomancy' - has interested Western laymen and scholars. Today, ...
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For well over a century Chinese fengshui, or geomancy, has fascinated western laymen and scholars. The focus of this academic study is on fengshui's significance in China and the author's argument that fengshui serves as an alternative tradition of cosmological knowledge which is used to explain a range of everyday occurrences in rural areas such as disease, mental disorders, accidents and common mischief. For well over a century, Chinese fengshui - or 'geomancy' - has interested Western laymen and scholars. Today, hundreds of popular manuals claim to use its principles in their advice on how people can increase their wealth, happiness, longevity, etc. This study is quite different, approaching fengshui from an academic angle. The focus is on fengshui's significance in China, but the recent history of its reinterpretation in the West is also depicted. The author argues that fengshui serves as an alternative tradition of cosmological knowledge, which is used to explain a range of everyday occurrences in rural areas such as disease, mental disorders, accidents and common mischief. Although Chinese authorities have opposed the tradition for centuries, nonetheless it has been used by almost everyone as an aspect of popular cosmology. Opposing the Chinese collectivist ethos and moralizing from above, fengshui represents an alternative vision of reality, while interpreting essential Chinese values in a way that sanctions selfish motivations and behaviour. The study includes a historical account of fengshui over the last 150 years augmented by the results of anthropological fieldwork on contemporary practices in two Chinese rural areas. Aiming to eschew Western intellectual preconceptions and to penetrate the confused mass of old texts and divergent local practices, the book will be of interest to all scholars seeking to understand an undercurrent of modern China's transformation.
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Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
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Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Minor rubbing. VG. 22x14cm, xiv, 305 pp., Series: Man & Nature in Asia; no. 8. Foreword by Stephan Feuchtwang. Contents: Fengshui: a challenge to anthropology--Fengshui practices and policies, 1850 to 1949--Fengshui practices and policies after 1949--The fengshui revival: fieldwork in Sichuan--Another school of fengshui: fieldwork in Jiangsu--Fengshui applications and possible interpretations--The construction of a discourse: fengshui as environmental ethics--Conclusion--Appendix: On the origin of fengshui and the history of its literature.
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HARDCOVER Good-Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD Standard-sized.
