Feng Shui and the City: The Private and Public Spaces of Chinese Geomancy

by Manuela Madeddu, Xiaoqing Zhang

Overview

Feng Shui and the City analyses the past and contemporary influences of traditional geomancy on Chinese built environments across three domains: domestic spaces, spaces of commercial development and the public realm. Using Lefebvre’s notion of absolute and abstract space—spaces of ‘symbolic existence’ and ‘everyday life’ versus spaces of domination and control, it tracks evolving attachment to, and use of, Feng Shui in Guangdong and Hong Kong. The book seeks to understand the changing role of Feng Shui in modern urban development and its regulation, and to question what constitutes authentic Feng Shui today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789811608469
Publisher:	Springer Nature Singapore
Publication date:	04/20/2021
Edition description:	1st ed. 2021
Pages:	158
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Manuela Madeddu is Senior Lecturer in Urban Design at the University of Liverpool. She has held previous posts at London South Bank University and the Politecnico di Torino, and practised as an architect and urban designer in Italy and the UK. Her research focuses on cultures of design and regulation.

Xiaoqing Zhang is Lecturer in Public Administration at the Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. She graduated from University College London with a PhD in Planning Studies. Her research interests include urban regeneration in relation to welfare regimes, and community governance sitting within a broader understanding of local political resources.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Feng Shui and the ‘Meaning of Space’.- Chapter 2: The Case Studies and Research Approach.- Chapter 3: Feng Shui in Mainland China – Guangdong Province.- Chapter 4: Feng Shui in the Chinese territories – Hong Kong.- Chapter 5: Conclusions.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Feng Shui and the City is a vital contribution to the study of feng shui in contemporary urban areas, providing a theoretically and empirically rich rendering of the many lives of an ancient practice as it evolves to serve the needs and interests of a variety of players swept up in enormous political and economic changes. Focusing on the two neighbouring regions of the Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province, the authors reveal the extent to which British colonial influence shaped the trajectory of feng shui in the former, while the ideology and policy of the Chinese Communist Party eclipsed the practice until the Period of Reform and Opening. The book tests the bold hypothesis that feng shui underwent a transition from (Lefebvre’s) absolute space (nurtured by a rural, collective quest for wellbeing) in premodern and precolonial times, to abstract space under the domination of capitalism and commodification. This raises challenging theoretical questions on the political economy of space, agency, and subjectivity more broadly. By examining the triad of ‘the domestic and private space of the dwelling, commercial development projects, and the public [governed] space of the city’, they produce a brilliant and highly productive synthesis. The writing is clear, concise, and economical—a joy to read. The book constitutes an important contribution to the literature on feng shui in contemporary societies and it introduces findings that are broadly applicable. It will be widely cited for some time to come.” (Professor Chris Coggins, Bard College at Simon’s Rock/Open Society University Network)