ABSTRACT
In the Chinese cult of the ancestors the personality of the dead is divided, or better, multiplied in such a way that a man or woman may be worshipped for all time as an ancestor and yet undergo the experience of divine judgment and rebirth. Within China itself there is a relation between the elaborateness of the geomancy of graves and the elaborateness of lineage structure. Deep and complex lineage organization is by no means universal in China, and it is probably no accident that in the south-eastern part of the country, both lineages and the feng-shui of the tomb have been carried to extreme forms of development. In the Chinese case, men are conscious of deriving benefits both from ancestors in their shrines and from ancestors as bones. They are free agents when they seek to use the feng-shui of graves, and can sometimes allow themselves to be cynical about their ancestors as yang.
