Six Feet Under Wet Ground:Hydrological Landscapes and the Environmental Transformation of Fengshui in Southern Song China

This paper examines geomantic (fengshui) burial practices in southeastern China during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), focusing on water as an emergent environmental problem. While geomantic theory long predated the Song, it was during this period that substantial archaeological and textual evidence for burial planning became available. In Northern Song practice, water rarely posed a serious technical concern. However, following the southward shift of political and demographic centers, Southern Song literati increasingly confronted saturated soils, high water tables, and flood-prone landscapes.Through three burial case studies—one archaeological and two textual—I analyze how elites implemented practical adjustments to mitigate hydrological risk while preserving geomantic legitimacy. I further show how repeated encounters with water-related constraints prompted subtle reinterpretations of geomantic doctrine. By historicizing “water” as a practical rather than purely cosmological category, this study illuminates the interaction between ritual theory, environmental condition, and social transformation in medieval China.