Press Release, Global

February 25, 2019 | By Cole Hatcher

‘God Mountains and Fengshui Forests’

Rural China Expert to Speak March 7 at Ohio Wesleyan

Christopher Coggins

DELAWARE, Ohio – Researcher and rural China expert Christopher Coggins will present “God Mountains and Fengshui Forests: China’s Village Watersheds as Relict Sacred Space in the Anthropocene” when he speaks March 7 at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Coggins, Ph.D., professor of Geography and Asian Studies at Bard’s College at Simon’s Rock in Massachusetts, will speak at 7 p.m. March 7 in Benes Room A of Ohio Wesleyan’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.

Coggins’s research focuses on rural China, political ecology, biodiversity, sacred landscapes, protected area management, globalization, and property/possession.  Since 2011, he has led teams engaged in a multi-year, mixed methods, field and archival research project on the fengshui forests of southern and central China.

Coggins earned his bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan University and both his master’s and doctoral degrees at Louisiana State University.

His visit is supported by an ASIANetwork Speakers Bureau Grant and sponsored by the Ohio Wesleyan East Asian Studies Program, and Environmental Studies major.


Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 90 undergraduate majors and competes in 25 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through Ohio Wesleyan’s signature OWU Connection program, students integrate knowledge across disciplines, build a diverse and global perspective, and apply their knowledge in real-world settings. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives” and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.