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Feng Shui: Changing Rules and Meanings Youcao Feng shui: Changing Rules and Meanings By: Youcao Ren A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Social Science Department of Landscape Architecture April 2019 Abstract Feng shui is both traditional and it is modern. Today its current practices remind us how a cultural specific subject dating back thousands of years evolves over time. By concentrating on landscape related issues, this study does not only provide a critical history, but also reveals how feng shui has become so current. The fact that today feng shui is being perceived as a reflection of popular culture in place making activities is likely to remind us that a place can be somewhere we simply walk past or live in, but to which we may also feel some attachment as a result of which it provided with a sense of belief. By means of both a historical and contemporary review of practices, this study reviews feng shui in different socio-cultural contexts. This enables us to understand that ‘traditionalism’ in feng shui is a relative concept. Instead, the only constant in feng shui is its adaptability, which is why it has retained its relevance both past and present. A new perspective to understanding feng shui is provided by investigating its participants, whom were visited, interviewed, and observed, both in rural and urban environment in China. By comparing revived practices in the countryside, and re- invented practices in the city, it is revealed that the survival and adaptability of feng shui are granted by both its practitioners and its participants, who reflect the varying people’s needs of both identity and belonging in place making activities. Acknowledgements My supervisor Dr. Jan Woudstra guided me to grow from a student to a researcher. My PhD has been a great experience and I thank Jan wholeheartedly. I thank Professor Peter Blundell Jones, who was and will always be an inspiration to me. I am also grateful to all my participants who generously helped me with this research. I would like to thank Yuhua, for being the kindest and the most supportive friend anyone who could ever ask for. My thanks also extend to all my friends in Sheffield for their love and support. My greatest gratitude goes to my parents. They are the most important people in my world and I dedicate this thesis to them. Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... I Acknowledgements................................................................................................................ III Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 Research Background ...............................................................................................................9 Research Aims, Objectives, and Questions .............................................................................. 21 Methodology and Methods .................................................................................................... 22 Thesis Structure ..................................................................................................................... 30 Translation and References .................................................................................................... 32 A Historic Timeline of Feng shui .............................................................................................. 33 Glossary of terms ................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 2. From Bu to Xiang: the Rise of a Belief in Place Making.................................... 38 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 38 Power Claims in Place Making: Bu, Xiang and the Centre......................................................... 40 From Chengzhou to Helv: Developed Skills of Xiang ................................................................ 50 Remembering the Tomb: from ‘Mu’ to ‘Fen’ ........................................................................... 69 Significance of Tomb Surroundings ......................................................................................... 78 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 86 Chapter 3. Changed and Unchanged Conceptions of Kanyu: Uniting Regions and Social Groups ........................................................................................................................... 89 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 89 Kanyu: Its Change of Terminology and Social Perceptions ....................................................... 91 From the Plain to the Mountains: Changing Burial Site Preferences ......................................... 94 Pursuing Scenery: Evolving Relationship between the Culture of the Gentry and Kanyu ......... 105 Summarising the Preferences into a Common Belief: the Development of Kanyu Drawings ... 116 Kanyu Practitioners: Who Were They and How Did They Work? ............................................ 121 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 124 Chapter 4. From Kanyu to Feng shui: Its Rise and Fall .................................................... 127 Kanyu in Late Imperial Society: a Continuing Custom ............................................................ 128 Kanyu and Feng shui: What Were the Differences? .................................................................. 150 From Every Day to Superstitious: the Re-interpretation of Feng shui in China in the Republican Period (1912-1949) .............................................................................................................. 152 The Relationship of Feng shui to ‘Superstition’ ......................................................................... 156 To Destroy the Old: National Policy on Feng shui in the Early People’s Republic of China (1949- 1978) ................................................................................................................................... 168 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 171 Chapter 5. Current Feng shui Practices in China ............................................................ 174 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 174 Feng shui Xiansheng and Feng shui Dashi: a Background ....................................................... 175 Traditional Feng shui Practitioners and His Works ................................................................. 176 Kan Yangzhai: House Design and Neighbourhood Planning ...................................................... 182 Tomb Evaluation ........................................................................................................................ 192 Introducing ‘Modern’ Feng shui Dashi................................................................................... 202 Modern Feng shui Masters and Their Practices ..................................................................... 203 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 214 Chapter 6. Preservation and Re-invention: A discussion on rural and urban feng shui ... 219 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 219 Rural Feng shui: a ‘Legal’ Tradition in the New Countryside ................................................... 220 Urban Feng shui: Struggle to Survive .................................................................................... 232 Feng shui Dashi and Their Path to Legitimacy .......................................................................... 237 Urban Feng shui: a Solution or an Issue? .................................................................................. 244 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 252 Chapter 7. Discussion and Conclusion ........................................................................... 255 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 255 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 264 Significance and Recommendations for Future Research ....................................................... 268 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 270 Chinese ................................................................................................................................ 270 Western .............................................................................................................................. 287 Appendix
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