Quand le fengshui des entreprises s’invite au temple

Abstract

Through the character of Qin Shuanglong, a geomancer (fengshui shi) who specializes in divining for commercial companies, this article considers the temple (miaozi) as an alternative scope for studying the religious question in China. As a regular patron of a local temple in the Mount Qingcheng township (Sichuan, China), Qin Shuanglong presents himself as someone who is familiar with the rules of a place inhabited by gods and the nuns in charge of its proper use. By encouraging his clients to make large donations to temples, he also places himself as an intermediary between entrepreneurs and gods who could help them to "get rich" (facai). By drawing a portrait of this specialist and analyzing the way he presents himself within temple grounds, we will highlight the ways in which he navigates between different langages and how he himself elaborates an original conception of asceticism.

Keywords

• asceticism; divination; fenghsui; money; Sichuan; temple