Sacred Landscapes of Imperial China : Astronomy, Feng Shui, and the Mandate of Heaven

This book analyses the magnificent imperial necropolises of ancient China from the perspective of Archaeoastronomy, a science which takes into account the landscape in which ancient monuments are placed, focusing especially but not exclusively on the celestial aspects. The power of the Chinese emperors was based on the so-called Mandate of Heaven: the rulers were believed to act as intermediaries between the sky gods and the Earth, and consequently, the architecture of their tombs, starting from the world-famous mausoleum of the first emperor, was closely linked to the celestial cycles and to the cosmos. This relationship, however, also had to take into account various other factors and doctrines, first the Zhao-Mu doctrine in the Han period and later the various forms of Feng Shui. As a result, over the centuries, diverse sacred landscapes were constructed. Among the sites analysed in the book are the “pyramids” of Xi’an from the Han dynasty, the mountain tombs of the Tang dynasty, and the Ming and Qing imperial tombs. The book explains how considerations such as astronomical orientation and topographical orientation according to the principles of Feng Shui played a fundamental role at these sites. Introduction 6 Contents 9 1 Heavens and Earth in Ancient China 11 1.1 Religion and Natural Philosophy 11 1.2 Divination, Astrology and Astronomy 14 1.3 From Natural to Sacred Landscapes 21 2 In Between Wind and Water 28 2.1 Form Feng Shui 28 2.2 Compass Feng Shui 32 2.3 The Establishment of Feng Shui 37 3 A Mound and A Terracotta Army 41 3.1 The First Emperor and the Mandate of Heaven 41 3.2 The Terracotta “Warriors” 43 3.3 The First Pyramid of China 56 5 The Golden Age 83 5.1 From Pyramids to Mountains 83 5.2 Buried in the Homeland 93 5.3 From Mountains to Pagodas 102 6 A New Splendor 106 6.1 The Advent of the Ming 106 6.2 Three Stones for a King 110 6.3 The Cosmic Capital 115 7 A Beautiful Valley 122 7.1 From Nanjing to Shisanling 122 7.2 Thirteen Emperors, Thirteen Tombs 128 7.3 A Palace for Eternity 131 8 The Last Dynasty 137 8.1 A New Geography for China 137 8.2 From Shisanling to Fengtaling 142 8.3 One Dynasty, Two Necropolises 151 Conclusions: A View from Purple Mountain 156 Appendix Probing Feng Shui Landscapes 159 The Azimuth-Altitude Reference System 160 The Horizon Formula 160 The Use of Virtual Globe Software 162 Palaeomagnetic Models 163 Chronology of Imperial China 165 Tables 168 References 175 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Heavens and Earth in Ancient China (Giulio Magli)....Pages 1-17 In Between Wind and Water (Giulio Magli)....Pages 19-31 A Mound and A Terracotta Army (Giulio Magli)....Pages 33-50 Pyramids on the River (Giulio Magli)....Pages 51-74 The Golden Age (Giulio Magli)....Pages 75-97 A New Splendor (Giulio Magli)....Pages 99-114 A Beautiful Valley (Giulio Magli)....Pages 115-129 The Last Dynasty (Giulio Magli)....Pages 131-149 Back Matter ....Pages 151-179