The Pebble People : Save the Day

Historical Background to the Pebble People

In the earliest written records, Chinese people, like many other people in the world, are represented as already practising the worship of natural objects. Going back to the days of Fuxi, a mytho-historical ruler, who first established the worship of the sun, the moon and the five planets, the worship of natural objects was at first purely local, such as the hills, streams, stones and so on.

An essential element of this worship was the belief in an intimate connection between human conduct and natural phenomena. The 'shijing' insist that when bad government prevails, not only is man thrown into confusion, but elements themselves are disturbed, and the beasts and vegetation depart from their proper course. Later on some of these natural features were objectified in the ancient altar, which in time came to be thought as the guardian 'deity' of the place, while the worship of some natural features became the occasion for big festivals, for instance the Divine Stone. When the eccentric artist 'Mifu' encountered a big stone, he regarded it as divine, bowed down with respect and called it 'the Elder Brother Stone'. In addition there were rain-making stones, evil-warding stones, fertility stones.

Before modern irrigation, China was plagued with frequent droughts, so they asked the rain-making stone for help. There is a solitary mountain standing high and precipitous. On its northern side there is a stone cave. If one takes a candle and goes in about one hundred paces there will be two big stones standing about ten feet apart. The common name for one is the Yang stone and for the other the Yin stone. When there is calamity from drought or flood, one whips the Yang stone and it rains, or one whips the Yin stone and the sky clears.

People called this the Yinyang stone effect and believed that there are two opposing but inter-related energies in the world. Yang represents sunshine, light, warmth, positivity, masculinity and is associated with odd numbers. It translates into positive energy. The Yin state is cloudy, dark, cold, negative, feminine and is associated with even numbers. Yin is 'negative energy'. This conception implies that all things must have two sides, two aspects, two genders, or two energies. If the two inter-related active energies are balanced, the weather will be good. Chinese divine stones are commonly connected with fertilizing capability.

There was a giant stone, that had existed since the creation of the world. It had been magically impregnated by the pure essences of heaven and the five scents of earth, the vigour of sunshine and the grace of moonlight. One day the stone split open, gave birth to a stone egg and developed into a pebble person, complete with every organ and limb. The stone gave birth to more little pebbles which became pebble people. They all settled on the bank of the horse lake where more and more pebble people came to live with many different shapes and colours and textures. Over time the pebble people grew into a numerous community and they walked through the countryside, looking prominent in the landscape and strange and striking in appearance.

The stone people or pebble people as they are known are believed to affect for good 'geomancy' wherever they appear and they have magic influence. They must not be cut or injured, for that would spoil the 'geomancy' and bring calamities instead of good fortune. For example, somewhere on the northern shore of the Yangtze river there is a strange looking rock that for decades has been the geomancy stone of an important family and when someone had broken it the people of the village 'Ambian' had to endure much suffering.

The first village the pebble people settled into was Ambian. The village and district were covered in sacred trees. These trees were supposed to have performed miracles or cured people's illnesses. There are records even relating that trees cried aloud with pain when they were cut down. Some trees received official recognition as deities and offerings were made to them. There are a great many geomancy trees in the area of Ambian. It may be a banyan, a cypress, a pine or some other kind of tree. But it is always large and old. There are reports that near the sacred cave called 'Jinsha Dong' the golden sand cave, there is a geomancy tree of a powerful local family. Near a monastry is another great pine tree that is a geomancy tree of the village and another is inside the temple and growing up through the roof. It is worshipped as a God.

The people of Ambian love nature. The natural objects such as mountains, trees and stones are synonymous with nature. They are the main focus of the lands poetry and painting. A place consisting of these natural objects is generally regarded as a good geomancy place. Mountains shelter and protect the geomancy place and so do big stones and trees. A stone or tree should be located at a certain point of a place, which is regarded as a microcosmos, in order to induce a harmonious environment and this is the magic and mysterious world the pebble people live and thrive in.

Over time the pebble people community grew and developed into a close knit society living in the wondrous lands along the river. But one family stood out, they were called the Granite family and they were very enterprising and enjoyed travelling in search of mysterious places.

Their first trip was planned to Brazil, down the enormous river Amazon. You can read about their adventure to Brazil »

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