ABSTRACT
Some verses of the She king give an idea of the ceremony of founding a town. The founder, wearing all his jewels, jades and precious stones, and bearing a magnificent sword, proceeds first to inspect the country. To ascertain the points of the compass, he studies the shadows (with the help of a gnomon ?). He examines the declivities, in sun and shade, the yang and the yin of the country, to know how the chief constituents of the world are divided. Finally he takes account of the direction of the running water. It is his duty to recognize the religious value of the site (what will be called later the fong-shaei). In the end he consults the tortoise, and learns from her whether his calculations are correct. 1
