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rd of which is arable, such a hierarchy of responsibility is extremely important. The fall of most ancient civilizations are more or less attributed to the ecologically imprudent exploitation of natural resources (see Wheatley, 1971). The fact that the Chinese agricultural civilization is the only ancient one that has survived for thousands of years into modern time, indicates that at least in a certain sense, the success of such a hierarchy of caring and sparing contributes greatly to environmental sustainability and social sustainability in China. Vegetation is considered in Feng-shui as the hair of the Mother Earth; the natural land form and soil are the bones and flesh; and water is the blood. So to keep the living Qi is to protect the vegetation, keep water clean, protect land form from being torn and soil from being exhausted. It is also important to notice that individual responsibility is encouraged by Feng-shui in caring for the landscape far beyond their property boundaries. Fig. 14 shows how two families Tang and Zhao share the same dragon mountain for their ancestor graves and distribute responsibility for the landscapes. At the higher level, the protection of the dragon mountain will involve the responsibility of all members of the two families and perhaps more families that have their Qi stemmed from the same mountain. Only the lowest level of an individual grave and its immediate surroundings, will be exclusively owned and managed by the corresponding family. At the village and or multi-village level, responsibility and caring for landscape and resources is also hierarchically distributed. Fig. 15 is an example of how the use and caring for water resources have been rationed between communities. The common spring is the only water source for two villages. The flow has been divided into ten equal parts flowing through ten holes. Seven of them are directed to the bigger village in the north and the other to the smaller village in the south. Such a rationing pattern is the result of long fighting and negotiating, and the involvement of local government. The fact is that the common life spring is well protected at the higher level by all local residents. The divided flow then becomes the common Qi Vein for individual families in each community, and a further allotment system is developed among individual families. This way, the "tragedy of commons" (Hardin, 1968) can be avoided (Yu, 1992). Fig 15 The common spring shared by two villages with a rationing system: Taiyuan, Shanxi Province (photo by the author) The Feng-shui forests on the dragon hills or at the Water Mouths are usually as old as the villages. They were preserved or planted by the founding ancestors of the villages, and since then have been protected as the common sacred groves by all members in the villages (Yu, 1992). Any destruction of the Feng-shui forests by any individual would not only harm his neighbors, thus making him the target of public criticism, but will also result in the loss of his own fortune as is believed. At the higher level of responsibility, the protection of a county's dragon hills, Water Mouth and other Feng-shui landscape elements is an important concern of the county magistrates and local gentry whose fate is certainly associated with the common Feng-shui of the county. Following is a call from the local gentry and county officials for the protection of their common Feng-shui from being destroyed by "outsiders" and local "worthle本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。