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Fengshui from an "expat" perspective

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风水 Tongji Universit y_WS 2011 Chinese history & culture_Pro. ZHANG Mingwei Marco Capitanio ( ) , Italian Student number: 1135072 Contact: [email protected] FENGSHUI rom an “expat” perspective
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风水Tongji University_WS 2011

Chinese history & culture_Pro. ZHANG Mingwei

Marco Capitanio (马可), Italian

Student number: 1135072

Contact: [email protected]

FENGSHUIrom an “expat” perspective

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ABSTRACT

Fengshui (I will use the Chinese characters 风水 rom now on) tends to be, at least or a non-AsianCountries, a rather exotic concept. For Europeans it reminds o some sort o superstitious thinking 

loosely connected with ecological principles, its aim being a harmonious reconnection between

humans and nature. Moreover,风水 is thought to be a general set o principles unanimously accepted 

throughout China. One o the main surprises when starting investigating about this topic is that soon

one realizes how recently the practice o 风水was publicly “rehabilitated”. Despite the controversial 

ofcial position on the subject by Chinese politics and bureaucracy, 风水 plays a prominent,

sometimes undercover role in the shaping o cities and buildings in China, even though it has more 

popularity in certain regions and less in others. Ater a brie historical introduction I will ocus on

the relationship between风水 and built environment, drawing some examples rom Shanghai and 

commenting them rom a western perspective. At the end o the paper I will draw some conclusions 

based on my “expat position”.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract p. 2

What it is p. 3

A brie history p. 3

 

Principles or the built environment p. 4

风水 and the Chinese city p. 4

Comparison with Europe p. 7

Conclusions p. 8

Reerences & list o illustrations p. 8

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WHAT IT IS

风水 could be dened as a practice o placement which has maniold maniestations, e.g. building

guidelines in terms o orientation, relationship to landscape and natural elements; positioning

o objects and urniture in interiors; strategies to improve business, health, happiness etc. This

practice, ar rom being a collection o dened rules to-be-ollowed, is deeply rooted in ancient

Chinese tradition, cosmology and popular religion, with habits and history. Moreover, it is not amonolithic body, it is rather subject to regional and personal changes, refected in many风水 

schools, each one promoting its own particular method. Also, the attitude towards it might be

very contradictory. Academics and literati since Conucius have always been generally critical or

skeptical about this practice, just like many Chinese dynasties, and Mao Zedong included 风水 

practitioners in the “black list” during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). In the West 风水 started

being known since the second hal o the 19th Century, when Great Britain, France and America

engaged in trading with China, a relationship eventually leading to the two Opium Wars (1839-42;

1856-60).

A BRIEF HISTORY

Found records o Chinese divination (e.g. the Shang dynasty oracle bones ound in Anyang) date

back 3500 years, but风水 as we know it nowadays evolved mainly during the Song Dynasty

(960-1279 a.D.) - or dates and acts in this section I rely on (Bruun 2008:11-48). During the

Zhou dynasty (1046-256 b.C.) the principles o yin-yang , the Five Elements, the symbols o tiger

and dragon and the relationship between Heaven and Earth are established. The Book o Rites ,

presumably compiled ater 500 b.C., already prescribes the south orientation or buildings and

many o the principles contained in this book were later on implemented in风水 practice.

We shall now briefy examine the relationship between 风水 and two o the main Chinese

cultural and religious traditions, namely Conucianism and Daoism. Conucius’ ollowers kept atsae distance rom popular believes in spirits, ghosts and supernatural creatures, as well as rom

divinatory practices. They regarded thus风水 with skepticism, even though they were careul

in not opposing it openly, given its growing popularity especially among peasants and lower

social strata. Daosim, on the other hand, born a ew hundred years ater Conucius’ doctrine

- i.e. ca. 4th Century b.C. - and based on the texts o Daodejing and Zhuangzi , shared more

common ground with风水. In act, we can say that the establishment o 风水 borrowed many

notions rom Daosim, like the belie in a multitude o beings and the need o maintaining a good

relationship with them. Shortly ater the Han dynasty (206 b.C.-220 a.D.) The Yellow Emperor’s 

Book on Dwellings made an attempt to combine Daoist thinking and geomancy. Here we nd therst recorded example o a distinction between yin (emale) and yang (male) dwellings, the ormer

being oriented west to the southeast, the latter east to the northwest.

The scholar Guo Pu (276-324 a.D.) is conventionally credited as the ounder o 风水 and to him is

attributed the Book o Burial , dealing with divination and attention towards natural topography

and astrology. In reality, it is not possible to determine when the book was exactly written,

and whether Guo Pu is its real author. Nevertheless the very term 风水 derives rom a passage

contained in the book:

“The Classic says: Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water. The 

ancients collected it to prevent its dissipation, and guided it to assure its retention. Thus it was called 

engshui.”  (Field 2003)

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风水 was urther codied during the Song dynasty and it virtually stopped evolving until the

Qing dynasty (1644-1911). China’s last dynasty, in contrast to its imperial predecessors, tended

to support风水, especially when oreign powers became more and more aggressive and started

occupying Chinese cities.风水 was a mean o reinorcing autochthonous traditions and anti-

oreign sentiments , while the practice was regarded as a orm o superstition or even nonsense by

Westerners.

Ater the Communist People Republic o China was ounded in 1949 and Mao’s Cultural Revolution

was launched some 20 years later, all religious associations were banned, and 风水 was no

exception. It was only ater the 1979 reorms and openings that the practice slowly regained

credit, and in the last 30 years we can say that the interest in it boomed among western Countries,

while nowadays in China it is widely popular, even though not ocially ully rehabilitated.

PRINCIPLES FOR THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

I will concentrate now on the role o 风水 on the built environment, i.e. its impacts on buildings

and the cityscape in general. The basic goal o 风水 is to assure that buildings and natural

elements are interacting in such a way that the fow i qi is not obstructed or interrupted. For

instance, an ideal situation or a settlement would be to have mountains on the north and water

to the south. We need now to open a small digression on the concept o qi (QI): its translation

would be similar to “earth’s breath” or “energetic fow”, and it is a central idea in Chinese

philosophy, spanning rom Daoism to Conucianism. Qi originated the world and keeps it alive; a

lively body can grasp plenty o qi, while a dead one does not have qi fowing in it. This “energy”

is everywhere and it is at everyone’s disposal to be caught. However, obstacles might reduce or

redirect its fow and it is the风水master’s job to detect qi’s fow and take measures in order to

maximize its benets.

In rural villages in China, houses had generally a “standardized” plan - here I reer mainly to (Bruun2008:59-67). The main acade had to ace south or a southerly direction and the main entrance

led to the living room, with the bedrooms on the right and let side (the latter usually or children

or elderly) and kitchen on the north side or detached rom the living room, since the stove and

chimney were supposed to have bad infuence on qi. All houses had to be built roughly the same

size and plot, since building bigger or higher would imply a modication o qi or the surrounding

buildings. This resulted in east-west streets, where on one side there were houses’ entrances and

on the other the back-sides o houses in the previous row. Exceptions could be made, but only

ollowing the rule “east overlooks west and north overlooks south”, i.e. it was allowed to be slightly

bigger or higher towards north or east. This set o principles, when ollowed, determined relativelyshort rows and a ew number o them, since many exceptions would destroy the overall layout.

Now, one might wonder how风水 could be shaping metropolises like Hong Kong or Shanghai

which seem to have nothing in common with a rural village. In the ollowing section I will try to

give some examples.

风水 AND THE CHINESE CITY

Let us start with the 1:2000 model o Chuansha, a small town in the western outskirts o Shanghai

(g.1). One thing strikes us: virtually all the buildings have a south prospect, many o them being

neatly ordered in rows and columns resembling soldiers on a parade. This is probably the most

proound legacy and infuence o 风水 in city-making. No matter whether we are considering

lilong housing (a peculiar typology which stem in Shanghai in the 19th Century rom western

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g. 1: Model o Chuansha New Town, Shanghai, 1:2000

g. 2: Building in the periphery o Shanghai

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g. 3: Swinging roo-tops in Shanghai’s apartment buildings

g. 5: Mao Zedong’s statue at Tongji Universityg. 4: Shanghai’s Nine Dragons Pillar

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and local interaction) or high-rise buildings, residential housing will invariably have a southerly

orientation.

Moreover, buildings like the one in g.2 are by no means uncommon. Here we can see a triple

风水 infuence. First, the hole in the middle has nothing to do with unctionality or aesthetic

values. Rather, it is designed to satisy the good fow o qi, both or the building itsel and or

its surroundings. Second, the golden “domes” on the top serve two unctions. On the one hand

they resonate with the Chinese tradition o the roo being an expression o wealth and power, i.e.

the more expansive and elaborate the roo, the richer and more infuential the amily which lives

under it. On the other hand, these domes are supposed to guard and protect the building rom evil

spirits and unhappiness under风水 guidelines. Fig.3 shows this point even clearer. Third, round

corners are thought to be avorable towards qi’s fow rather than sharp angles.

风水masters are oten called in order to resolve delicate situations. In Shanghai there is a

amous case, which is actually on the borderline between urban legend and historical act. When

working on the oundations or the crossing point between Yan’an and Chengdu elevated roads,

one particular spot resisted all drilling eorts without any reasonable explanation, so that the

work had to come to a halt. On that spot a hole was needed in order to insert a pillar. A 风水 master was then invited and was asked to understand the cause o the problem. He reached the

conclusion that a dragon was sleeping underneath, beore being awakened by the construction

site. Some tribute should be made in order to please him and proceed with the excavation. Thus

the Nine Dragons Pillar came into being (g.4)!

Another example comes rom Tongji University, in Shanghai as well. As soon as one enters the

main gate, an imposing statue o Mao greets the visitor (g.5). Its raised massive let arm not

only is supposed to show the technical ability o the university sta, but also to prevent bad

luck entering the campus. In act, a major street points directly towards the university gate,

i.e. perpendicular to it, and this is considered a bad situation. Thereore the statue symbolicallystopping evils rom coming in.

Finally,风水 is also connected with symbolism and astrology. Relatively oten we nd buildings

which miss foor numbers containing the digit 4, since its pronunciation is close to the one o 

“death” and thus considered an unlucky number. Moreover, good and successul business is

associated with a good building in风水 terms. This is why so many businessmen are willing to

consult风水masters (i they do not have their own) when building their headquarters or oces.

According to the ocial news agency Xinhua, in 2005 “at least 70 percent o [Nanjing’s] real estate 

projects are appraised by eng shui masters beore the construction starts”  (Bruun 2008:123). This

means that in Hong Kong and Taiwan (where风水

is even more popular) probably all projects(should) receive a风水 blessing.

COMPARISON WITH EUROPE

Even tough风水 is a specic Chinese concept, it is possible to trace some correspondences with

European history. The avorable location where to ound a new city in ancient Rome or instance

was always selected considering the natural landscape and conrmed by divination, and the basic

city layout was drawn according to two main axes, the cardo (north-south) and decumanus (east-

west), revealing the crucial importance o orientation. The concept o qi, in contrast, does not nd

any western counterpart when applied to the built environment. Moreover, these ancient Roman

practices were to be denitively abandoned during the middle-age, when commerce and practical

reasons became the leading orces o cities’ development. It is important noting that, during the

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REFERENCES

Bruun, O. (2008) An Introduction to Feng Shui , 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Field, S.L. (2003) The Zangshu, or Book o Burial  [online] 2003, available: http://www.trinity.edu/

seld/Fengshui/Zangshu.html [accessed 23 Dec 2011]

Hassenpfug, D. (2010) The Urban Code o China, 1st ed. Basel: Birkhäuser Architecture

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

g. 1, 3, 5: by Marco Capitanio

g. 2: by dotspec via Flickr

g. 4: by angweisoton via Flickr

Modern Movement in architecture (ca. 1920s-1960s), the principle o south orientation regained

popularity, this time as a result o scientic and hygienic attempts. While Modernist prescriptions

were ollowed rather loosely in the West, they seem to have ound a ertile ground in Asian cities

rom the 1980s onwards, and in China they ormed a sort o “joined venture” with 风水, which is

intuitive and non-scientic. What a coincidence!

CONCLUSIONS

风水 is a controversial topic, not only in the western world but also in China. While it is clear that

many o its principles lay in arbitrary traditional textual sources and superstitions with no proo 

or scientic value, its relevance must be stated, given the act that Chinese cities and buildings

are largely infuenced by it. It is also true that some风水 ideas seem derived rom common sense

and seem reasonable to ollow. This is demonstrated by the convergence between the Modern

Movement in architecture and风水 in respect to the south orientation. What could be useul, in

view o China’s and the world’s environmental crises, is to support and strengthen these “useul”

sides and to direct风水 thinking towards environmental preservation and more humane and air

cities.


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