Abstract
This paper looks at the contemporary processes of re-designing the sacred landscape of Mount Tiantai in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province of China with a focus on China’s changing ecological aesthetics and local economy. Through textual and ethnographic analysis, I examine how religious rituals and folk legends are being designed and built performatively into the tangible landscape of Mount Tiantai and China’s List of National Oral and Intangible Culture Heritages. Mount Tiantai was considered the homes of immortal beings and thought to be riddled with places of transcendental passage, of revelation, and interconnected with other supernatural realms. In addition to the initial site for the creation of the Southern School of Daoism and one of the ten major Daoist grotto-heavens, Tiantai also houses the initial site for the creation of the Tiantai school of Mahayana Buddhism. The modern-day landscape of Tiantai has been undergoing vigorous transformation since the time of its appearance in the poetic writings of Xu Xiake (1587 - 1641), a geographer and travel writer in the Ming Dynasty. In this paper, I will use textual analysis of Xu’s travel writing and my recent field notes for connecting the ancient with the contemporary.
Presenters
Lanlan KuangAssociate Professor; Director of Humanities and Cultural Studies Program, Philosophy, University of Central Florida, Florida, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Ecological Aesthetics, Economy, Landscape, Intangible Culture Heritage, Religious Practice
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