Feng Shui in Traditional Chinese Architecture & Site Design

What is Feng Shui?

Many people have tried to define feng shui over the centuries. The earliest known definition comes from Guo Pu, a scholar from the Jin Dynasty, in his famous book The Book of Burial. He wrote: “Burial means taking in life-giving energy. This energy scatters when blown by wind, but stops when meeting water. The ancients gathered it so it wouldn’t scatter, and guided it so it would stop. That’s why it’s called feng shui (wind-water). In feng shui, having good water is most important, and sheltering from wind comes second.”

So feng shui is basically the art of reading the land. It’s about choosing good places to live or bury the dead, and working with the patterns of nature to bring good fortune and avoid bad luck. There are two types: yang feng shui for the living, and yin feng shui for the dead.

History and Development

Feng shui goes all the way back to ancient times.

Form Method and Principle Method

In Chinese feng shui, the Form Method is mainly used for choosing a site and its shape. The Principle Method focuses on setting the direction and layout of both indoor and outdoor spaces. There is also the Date Method, which picks lucky days for starting construction, and the Talisman Method, which uses symbols to fix bad luck from other methods.

Feng shui is also divided by what it’s used for:

• Yang feng shui is for the living—choosing and shaping the location of cities and homes.
• Yin feng shui is for the dead—choosing and arranging graves and tombs.

Depending on the environment, there are different types: city houses, open-country houses, and valley houses. Each has its own focus. For example, in open-country and valley houses, the surroundings and landforms are very important, so the Form Method is used more. In city houses, because the outside space is limited, both Form and Principle Methods are used together.

The Form School of feng shui focuses on finding dragons (mountain veins), checking sand (hills), observing water, finding the right spot (acupoint), and choosing the right direction. The Principle School focuses on yin-yang, the five elements, the heavenly stems and earthly branches, the eight trigrams, and the nine palaces—how they help or control each other. This school also uses a special compass (luopan) to find the right position.

No matter which school, all feng shui follows three main rules:

1. Unity of heaven, earth, and people.
2. Balance of yin and yang.
3. The five elements supporting and controlling each other.

Feng shui is actually a mix of many sciences—geophysics, hydrology, astronomy, meteorology, ecology, architecture, and even human biology. Its goal is to carefully study and understand nature, then use and improve it to create a good living environment.

The ancient Chinese used to say: “A house should have the land as its body, water as its blood, soil as its flesh, plants as its hair, rooms as its clothes, and doors as its hat. If everything fits well together, it’s very lucky.” This shows they thought of a house like a living person, and that a good layout is important for both the house and the people living in it.

Heaven-Earth-People Unity in Architecture & Site Design

Feng shui appears in every stage of traditional Chinese building—from choosing a site, designing buildings, gardens, and interiors, to actual construction. From a modern real estate perspective, when planning a new housing area with feng shui, you should start with three key ideas: the Tai Chi concept, the concept that everything has energy fields, and the concept that energy fields can be guided.

1. The Tai Chi Concept

A city, a village, a yard, a building, a home, a room—each one is a Tai Chi, just at different levels. When planning a house, you need to look at its own Tai Chi, and also the Tai Chi of the whole group of buildings. A building complex should have a complete, square shape for a good Tai Chi. It’s not good to have missing parts. When planning a site, pay close attention to the energy-field effect of the Tai Chi symbol. Open spaces and small gardens should be placed in the center, with some decorative features. In house design, the building itself shouldn’t have missing corners either. And inside, apartments shouldn’t be split in a way that leaves any unit with an odd, incomplete shape.

2. Everything Has Energy Fields

The five main elements of feng shui—dragon (mountain veins), acupoint (the right spot), sand (hills), water, and direction—are all about energy (qi). Searching for these things is really about finding good energy that’s good for people and avoiding bad energy. There are energy fields between all things, and energy comes from these fields. Modern science has shown that people, plants, buildings—everything—has an energy field. Just like gravity, energy fields are everywhere. One building alone might not matter much, but a group of buildings can create a very different energy field.

3. Energy Fields Can Be Guided

The energy in feng shui comes from the combined fields of the universe, the earth, the region, the buildings, the plants, and the human body. The energy of the universe, earth, and region is the “big energy field.” This big energy comes from open space and settles in solid places. That’s why houses for the living are often built in places like basins or semi-basins (surrounded by mountains or in mountain bays). These areas have rich soil and good water, which is good for living and helps bring in the big energy. Energy moves in a spiral. Any local spiral energy is part of the larger universal energy.