SIDE BY SIDE
Compare mantic systems
Read systems against shared questions to identify common language, procedural differences and distinct limits.
| Dimension | 相人术 ↗ | 堪舆与风水 ↗ |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Physiognomy and bodily observation | Fengshui and environmental arts |
| Inputs | Historical image, bodily categories, caption and context | Site plan, orientation method, terrain, time and school |
| Procedural structure | Facial zones, bones, features, twelve palaces, complexion and time are correlated through morphological analogy, phases and social types. Bone, face, hand, voice, gait and mole traditions were not always one system. | Form traditions emphasize mountain chains, nodes, protective forms and water. Compass traditions map direction, stems-branches, hexagram qi and time. Sanhe, Sanyuan-Xuankong, Flying Stars, Eight Mansions, living and burial approaches use distinct scales and rules. |
| Formation | Pre-imperial narratives; systematized in medieval manuals and Song-Ming print | Kanyu had broader Han meanings; site traditions matured from Six Dynasties through Song, with later proliferation |
| Evidence labels | Textually documented · Traditional attribution · Cross-cultural formation | Excavated evidence · Textually documented · Traditional attribution · Contested lineage or date |
| Texts | Yuebo Dongzhong Ji / Yuguan Zhaoshen Ju / Taiqing Shenjian / Renlun Datong Fu / Shenxiang Quanbian | Book of Dwellings / Book of Burial / Qingnang Jing / Hanlong and Yilong classics / Dunhuang residence and burial manuals |
| Limits | Physiognomy can reinforce appearance, disability, gender and ethnic bias. It must not be used for hiring, marriage screening, medical judgment or moral condemnation; our treatment is historical and methodological. | Authorship and date of texts such as the Book of Burial are disputed, and schools are not uniform. Their landscape, architectural and ritual history can be studied without presenting mantic causality as modern geography. |
| Research question | How do classificatory terms convey values of a particular period? | Which data support physical description and which support symbolic arrangement? |