NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM II5 



and if it should be injured or destroyed, much harm would ensue to 

 the people of An-pien. 



About halfway between I-pin and Li-chuang, on the south side of 

 the Yangtse River, is a large rock that is the fengshui stone of the 

 Lo family who live on the north side of the river and who formerly 

 were very rich and powerful. It is said that when someone chopped 

 wood at the home of the Lo family, the rock would move. This stone 

 was on the property of the Chang family, who were jealous of the 

 prosperity of the Lo family, so they hired stone masons to cut up 

 the fengshui stone. The Lo family went to law about it, and the 

 lawyers were so clever that they prolonged the expensive lawsuit 

 several years without reaching a decision. The two families therefore 

 agreed to settle the matter out of court by throwing silver into the 

 river. The family that threw in the most silver would win. The 

 Chang family threw in pewter, but the Lo family threw in a great 

 deal of silver. After that both families were poor, and the people 

 attributed the poverty of the Lo family largely to the fact that its 

 fengshui stone had been injured. 



What is fengshui? The following quotation from the Encyclo- 

 paedia Sinica will throw some light on the question. 



FENG SHUI, j^TJC. wind and water. (The outward and visible signs of celes- 

 tial Yang and Yin.) The art of adapting the residence of the living and the dead 

 so as to co-operate and harmonize with the local currents of the cosmic breath 

 (Yin and Yang, q. v.) ; often incorrectly called "geomancy." 



It is believed that at every place there are special topographical features 

 (natural or artificial) which indicate or modify the universal spiritual breath 

 (Ch'i). The forms of hills and the directions of watercourses, being the out- 

 come of the moulding influences of wind and water, are the most important, 

 but in addition the heights and forms of buildings and the directions of roads 

 and bridges are potent factors. From instant to instant the force and direction 

 of the spiritual currents are modified by the motions of the sun and moon, 

 (see astrology), so that at any particular time the directions of the celestial 

 bodies from the point considered are also of great importance. 



The professor of Feng Shui employs a lo-pan (graduated astrolabe with com- 

 pass) to observe directions and astrological harmonies, while at the same time 

 he notices the forms which the spiritual forces of nature have produced. 



By talismans (dragons and other symbolic figures on roofs and walls, pagodas 

 on hills, or bridges) and charms (pictures of spirits or "words of power" in- 

 scribed on paper scrolls or stone tablets), the unpropitious character of any par- 

 ticular topography may be amended. 



Artificial alteration of natural forms has good or bad effect, according to the 

 new forms produced. Tortuous paths are preferred by beneficent influences, so 

 that straight works such as railways and tunnels favour the circulation of malefi- 

 cent breath. 



The dead are in particular affected by and able to use the cosmic currents for 

 the benefit of the living, so that it is to the interest of each family to secure 



