gton v.

Tolÿtshtge

1. Tokushige (1927): U.S. Supreme Court would take advantage of the unrest to spread their
luck down a series of regulations m Ha- levolution from the mainland to Taiwan.
ing operation of the state's Japanese- Memories of the Februaly 28 incident have perpetu-
aools. Such legislative lestnctions, the ated animosity between the island's native-born Tai-
d, are unconstitutional Under the regula- wanese population and mainland immigrants who fled
a-language schools wexe required to ob- from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan after the Chinese
permit from the state and pay a fee of one Nationalist army was defeated by the Chinese Com-
dent. In late 1922 a petition initiated by munity Red Army in 1949. After the government lifted
)ublisher Kinzaburo MAKINO was filed martial law in 1987, the ban on discussing the incident
:ourt to enjoin the enactment of fmther in public was also ended. Relatives of the victims
ws, which, the petitioners contended, de- called on the government to make a full disclosure of
of liberty and property without due pro- the incident. The government responded by issuing a
is guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to repolt and also sought to foster reconctliahon and to
ion. bridge the cultural gap between the local population
re at the time more than 160 foreign- and mainland immigrants by sponsoring commemol a-
hools in Hawaii. The great majority of tive activities and erecting memorials.
apanese schools, with total emollments of
) pupils The schools, moreover, were not Federated Agricultural Laborers Association: Fili-
ded. pino labol union chaltered by the AMERICAN FEDERA-
, the Supreme Coult affirmed the constitu- ZION OF LABOR (AFL) in 1940. AFL recognition fol-
)f Japanese parents---or those of any other lowed the union's successful repaesentation of
onality--to direct the education of their thousands of asparagus cutters and othel farm workers
bout undue restrictions during a series of labor strikes in central California.

8 incident (1947): Occurrence in which a Feleo.Gonzalez, Marina (b. July 22, 1932, Santa
e Chinese Nationalist army shot to death a Rosa, Philippines): Playwright, screenwriter, and me- A fenh shut map of an auslc
dia consultant. Founding president of the scleenwriters Repubhc of Korea, c 1201
goman street vendor suspected of selling
zigarettes. The killing triggered a selies of guild of the Philippines and founding chair of the
rogates for celeshal feÿ
ceen native Taiwanese and Nationalist mi- Radio/TV Writers Guild of the Philippines, her scripts
stars, and asterisms).
d recently arrived from the Chinese main- have received numerous accolades, including Filipino
Defimtton. The term
r a period of martial law. Thousands of equivalents of the United States' Academy and Emmy
ideographs for "wind"
;nts were killed during the riots, which Awalds. In the Umted States, she has lectured widely
scribed by Herbert Chÿ
1 February, 1947. Public discussion of the on Asian and Asian American film, video, and culture
visible signs of celestia
emained taboo m Taiwan until the late and taught for independent film orgamzationÿ includ-
with a concise Enghst
992 the Taiwanese government issued an ing Third World Newsreel, the Film News Now Foun-
for feng shut that is stil
)rt that concluded that the incident was the dation, and Women Make Movies.
tive and accurate: "The
naan errors that could have been avoided.
the living and the dead
ese Nationalist army occupied the island of Feng shui: Members of diverse cultures now and in
nize with the local curr
owing the defeat of Japan in World War II the past often seem to share a similar intuitive associa-
In accepting this dÿ
d a military government over the island. tion of their personal well-being and avoidance of
interpret feng shin with
of the newly arrived military authorities misfortune with their being "in the right place at the
hensive Song Dynasty
g the local Taiwanese population, espe- right time." Chinese civilization has responded to this
mology. Otherwise, it
tg the elite who had lived under Japanese source of universal anxiety by inventing and promot-
leading for skeptics
e prevmus fifty years. The Februaly 28 ing an art of human placement known as feng-shm.
feng shui as "geoman
zasloned the expression of this resentment. Feng shui is the Chinese vernacular term (Mandarin
term has tended m th
er the street vendor's death turned into a pronunciation; various spellings) for a comprehensive
course in the West to
tprising. Oveneacting to the riots, the Na- body of theories and practices that have superficial
involving Asian occul
overnor-general ordered an island-wide characteristics of a terrestrial astrology; that is, some
presently tends to proÿ
to quell the noting. Several months of Na- aspects of feng shut involve divining the future or
the magical efficacy o
ny reprisals followed. The military justified discovering hidden knowledge by using Earth surface
little progress has be,
out of fear that the Chinese Communists featuxes (for example, mountains and streams) as sur-
 Feng shui -- 415

cross-cultural understanding of the larger ethical and

envaronmental amplications offeng shut's complex in-
tegration with rico-Confucian cosmology.
Htstoltcal Development. Feng shut origins likely
spring from early Taoist preoccupations with universal
philosophical questions involving humankind's place
m nature and its relation to all things in the unaverse.
Proto-feng shut an the early dynastic period associated
abstlact ideas about order, chaos, and change with
solving more practical problems of hydraulic engi-
neering, agricultural productivity, and social control.
Consolidatmn of the entire feng shut system as ap-
plied to propitious sitings for temples, cities, and impe-
rial burials was well underway by the end of the Han
Dynasty (206 Z.C.E.-220 C.E.), and it soon spread be-
yond the "Middle I<Sngdom" to the Korean peninsula,
to Vietnam, and to Japan. During the ensuing "golden
age" of Buddhism in East Asia, temples and pagodas
were located accolding to feng shut principles. Latel,
during the Song Dynasty, the Chu Hm school of neo-
Confucianism formulated its "bureaucratization of na-
ture," which tacitly endorsed feng shui logic within a
new synthesis of classical Confucian ideas about soca-
ety and government, and Taoist and Buddhist ideas
about nature and the universe. Chu Hsi rico-Confu-

A ÿnh shut map of an attsptctotts tombstte on Cheju lslandÿ

cianism subsequently became state cults in Mmg Dy-
Repubhc of Korea, c 1200 nasty (1368-1644) and QINO DYNASTY (1644-1911)
China and in Ya DYNASTY (1392-1910) Korea.
rogates for celestial features (for example, planets, Owing to these developments, feng shut became
stars, and astensms). popularized throughout the Chinese neo-Confucian
Defmttton. The term is composed of two Chinese cultural lealm, as reverence for ancestors mmged with
ideographs for "wind" and "water." These are de- anxieties about "correct" ethical procedures involving
scribed by Herbert Charley (1917) as "outward and burial practices and grave siting (except in Japan,
visible signs of celestial Yang and Ym"; he continues where popular feng shut evolved to emphasize regula-
with a concise English-language working defimtion tion of journeys rather than placement of tombs). Al-
for feng shut that is still widely accepted as authorita- though feng shut had ceased to be the excluswe pos-
tive and accurate: "The art of adapting the residence of session and preoccupation of emperors and aristocrats,
the hving and the dead so as to co-opelate and harmo- its grip on the public mind had conveniently secured ij

nize with the local currents of the cosmic breath." foa those in power their social control of the masses.
In accepting this definition, one must eventually Growth and prosperaty ensued, and by the eaghteenth
interpretfeng shut wathin a more complex and compre- century rico-Confucian civilization had achieved per-
hensive Song Dynasty (960-1279) rico-Confucian cos- haps the highest standard of laving in the world for that
mology. Otherwise, it becomes convenient but mis- time Its success rested on the backs of milhons of
leading fol skeptics and the uninformed to dismiss farmers simultaneously cultwating their virtues
feng shut as "geomancy." Such glossing over of the through hard work and, except in cases of extreme
term has tended in the past to reduce feng shut dis- povelty, diligent adherence to feng shut conventions.
course in the West to culturally insensitive anecdotes Despite the general decline of state rico-Confucianism
involving Asian occult searches for lucky places and in East Asia during the mneteenth and twentieth centu-
presently tends to promote myopic speculations about ries, the feng shut epiphenomenon has survived there.
the magical efficacy of anterior design strategies. Thus One may anticipate encountering both former impacts
little progress has been made toward increasing any and the continuing presence of feng shut practices
 416 --Fenollosa, Et nest Franctsco

wherever neo-Confuclanlsm remains entrenched in ru- spirit of cooperation with the universe while dissuad-
ral folklife or as part of the culture of rural migrants ing individuals from selfish, unethical, and rapacious
settling in East Asian cities. Overseas emiglants from settlement practices.
East Asia have also carried neo-Confucianism abroad; SUGGESTED READINGS: * Charley, Herbert. "Feng
as a result, feng shui has transcended tts East Asta Shui." In Encyclopaedia Sintca, edited by Samuel
regional incubator to become a dynamtc new element Couling, p. 175. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1917.
hz world popular culture and ts attracting attention • Feuchtwang, Stephan D. R. An Anthropological
attd adherents atnong Western peoples. This has been Analysts of Chinese Geomancy. Vxentiane, Laos: Edi-
demons#ated in the 1990's, for example in the Untted tions Vithagna, 1974. ° Needham, Joseph. Sctence and
States attd Canada, by the tncreastng and wtdespread Civilisation m Chbÿa: Htstoty of Scientific Thought.
influences offeng shut on real estate markets, architec- Vol. 2. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
ture, and interior design. Press, 1956. ° Rossbach, Sarah. bztertor Design wtth
Relattons to Geography. Conventional wisdom Feng Shui. New York. E. E Dutton, 1987. ° Wheatley,
among medieval neo-Confucian peoples long dictated Paul. The Pivot of the Four Quarters: A Prehmmary
thatfeng shut practices govern site selections and con- Enquuy hlto the Origins and Character of the Anctent
structlon plans for all "human habitations," which are Chmese City. Chicago: Aldine, 1971. ° Yoon, Hong-
broadly defined through past and present practices to key. Geomantic Relations Between Cultto e and Nature
include graves, houses, cities, shrines, and even busi- tn Korea. Taipei" Chinese Association for Folklore,
2
ness establishments. As a locational theory involving 1976.
surveying practices, feng shut can be accurately char-
acterized as an interprettve and applied art. It is neither Fenollosa, Ernest Francisco (Feb. 18, 1853-Sept. 21,
science nor Ieligion but rather a systematic body of 1908, London, England). Art historian, curator, and
indigenous geographical-locational theories and prac- poet. Amid the national modernizations of the MEIJI
tices involving tlained scholar/technicians ("earth doc- RESTORATION (1868-1912), a period in whxch much of
tors"), theii surveying devices (featuring enigmatic Japan's artistic heritage began to fall into neglect,
compasses), and associated artifacts (manuals and Fenollosa strove to preserve the country's classical art.
maps). Infeng shut as it is known today, these objects Through his writings and lectures, he introduced Ori-
are only the most obvious indicators preserving com- ental art to the West, opening the door to further schol-
plex underlying thought patterns that operate accord- alship on the subject. He was the son of a Spanish
ing to their own internal logic and that adapt to specific musician who had landed in the United States in 1838,
circumstances settling in Salem, Massachusetts. Fenollosa matricu-
Feng Shui Logic. The logic of feng shut assumes lated at Harvard, studying philosophy and sociology,
that people have inherent tendencies to move toward graduating first m his class in 1874, and being elected
certain places. Thgse places are auspicious points of class poet. During that time he also began painting. A
reference that coincide favorably with the points of fellowship enabled him to enter postgraduate study in
reference fox cosmic events. Thusfeng shut through its philosophy and theology at Cambridge in England.
surveys allows people to adapt their houses and living Fenollosa spent 1877 taking classes at the Boston
spaces to "local currents of the cosmic breath" (qi, in Museum of Fine Arts. In 1878 he married Lizzie
Chinese). Feng shut theory holds that these vital cur- Goodhue Millett and began teaching at Tokyo Imperial
rents orxginate in heaven, descend to earth through its University, where he was a lecturer in pohtxcal science,
hxghest mountain, and dxverge to the four quarters philosophy, and economics until 1886. Taking note of
through "dragons" (celestially charged mountain the dechne to which Japan's ancient temples and their
chains). Cosmic curt ents may also well up beneath the artworks were exposed as a consequence of modern-
earth surface as "yellow springs," at which places feng ization, Fenollosa enthusiastically championed preser-
shut experts will attempt to discover and exploit the vation and set about learning the history, themes, and
springs fox specific clients (who may or may not have methods of classical Japanese art. He financed a Tokyo
the appropriate virtue and natal astrology to reap the exhibition of classical works in 1881. The following
benefits). Arguably neo-Confucian society and the en- year he delivered a lecture entitled "The True Theory
vironment may have benefited the most fromfeng shut of Art." As his opinions and ideas assumed greater
practices during premodeln times, as the system once popularity and influence, others were inspired to em-
operated to engage humankind into a place-specific brace this facet of their culture, including several