Ole Bruun

Fengshui in China: Geomantic Divination Between State Orthodoxy and Popular Religion Ole Bruun

Contrary to popular manuals, this book approaches fengshui from an academic angle, focusing on its significance in China, but also depicting the recent history of its reinterpretation in the West. It includes a historical account of fengshui over the last 150 years with anthropological fieldwork on contemporary practices in two Chinese rural areas. The author argues that fengshui serves as an alternative tradition of cosmological knowledge 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, it has been used by almost every-one as an aspect of popular cosmology. This title falls in the category of Anthropology, Religious Studies, Environmental Studies, and China. It is suitable for academic researchers and post-graduate students.