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The Chinese art or practice of positioning objects, especially graves, buildings, and furniture, based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects.
[Chinese (Mandarin) fēng shuǐ, wind (and) water : fēng, wind + shuǐ, water.]
(pronounced "fung shway") ancient Asian art of creating harmony and balance within an environment.
Example: According to the tenets of feng shui, certain colors and elements should be in each "life area" for a home to be in harmony and balance. See Sell Your Home Faster with Feng Shui, by Holly Ziegler (Dragon Chi Publications, 2001).
Definition
Feng shui, pronounced "foong swee" (Cantonese) or "fong shway" (Mandarin) is the Chinese art of arranging buildings, objects, and space in the environment in order to achieve energy, harmony, and balance. The English translation of Feng shui is "the way of Wind (feng) and Water (shui)" or "the natural forces of the universe."
Origins
Feng shui, derived from the Chinese concept of yin and yang, has been practiced for thousands of years. Evidence of the existence of this practice can be found in the alignment and organization of graves in the Yangshao villages from 6000 B.C. In fact, there is compelling evidence that suggests that feng shui was not strictly an Asian entity. In prehistoric Europe, the practice of arranging objects and structures to be in harmony with the universe was a relatively common practice.
A popular theory regarding the origins of feng shui suggests that the practice stemmed from ancient shaman who understood the vital importance of strategically placing a village. Areas which possessed mild winds would generate plentiful harvests while harsh winds would stunt crop growth or destroy the harvest altogether. In addition, the placement of a village in close proximity to flowing water and fresh springs would stimulate growth and ensure health, while stagnant water would foster disease and disharmony within the community. As the centuries passed, these shaman correlated their thoughts on wind and water with the teachings of Daoism, thus creating the practice of feng shui.
Benefits
As a design philosophy, "good" feng shui is believed to promote health, prosperity, creativity, positive social relationships, self-confidence, contemplation, and respect for others.
Description
An ancient Daoist Chinese theory of design and placement, feng shui grew from observations that an individual's surroundings elicit positive and negative effects. According to Daoism, everything that exists contains qi (chi), the energy or life force. This qi possesses two properties, yin (receptive) and yang (active)—they are opposites and cannot exist without the other. Within the qi, eight constituents compose the universe (the Lake, the Mountain, Fire, Water, Heaven, Thunder,
Wind, and Earth). Each trigram, or combination of three yin/yang elements, represents a particular quality and pattern of energy. In turn, the proper arrangement of these energetic qualities would affect not only the qi of the environment, but that of the individual within the environment as well. With feng shui, the goal is to bring both into harmony so as to foster prosperity, health, and well-being with the Wind (feng) dispersing the qi throughout the universe and Water (shui).
The ba gua, or "Sequence of the Later Heaven," is the arrangement of the energy trigrams so that they exist in harmony and balance. Each trigram has a balancing partner that contributes to universal harmony. For example, Earth is balanced by the Mountain, Fire is balanced by the Water, Wind is balanced by Heaven, and Thunder is balanced by Lake. The ba gau is laid in a circular pattern with Fire at the top, followed by Earth, the Lake, Heaven, Water, the Mountain, Thunder, and Wind (clockwise). The Taiji (or yin-yang symbol) is located in the center of the trigrams, and represents the unifying force of the universe.
Practitioners of feng shui use the ba gua to determine the energy flow throughout the home and in other living spaces. By corresponding the trigram pattern to the different parts of a room, a practitioner determines whether the room is in harmony with the universe. For example, when analyzing a home office or workspace of a writer or artist, a feng shui specialist would pay particular attention to the portion of the room that corresponds to the Lake of the ba gua, because the Lake represents creative energy. If there is clutter or disorganization in the section of the room that corresponds to the Lake, or if the room is partitioned so that the Lake section is actually occupied by a bookcase or closet, then the environment would be considered to stifle creativity. A feng shui specialist might recommend moving the office to a more hospitable room in the house, or reconstructing the storage space to free up the creative energy in the Lake section of the room. Good health is said to be located in the Wind trigram of the ba gua, so maintaining this space and using it effectively is critical to practitioners of feng shui.
There are many other design tenets of feng shui, but some of the most commonly used and basic concepts include:
Precautions
Individuals should observe basic building code and fire safety rules when redesigning a home according to feng shui principles.
Feng shui adjustments to living space should not be relied upon as a sole source of treatment for individuals with health problems. Although feng shui principles can be employed as an adjunct, or complementary, treatment, proper diagnosis and treatment from a qualified health-care professional is necessary in treating any chronic or acute physical disorder.
Research & General Acceptance
Feng shui has been practiced throughout Asia for thousands of years, and has recently grown in popularity in the United States as a tool for home design. Although considered part of traditional Chinese medicine in Asia, it is not largely regarded as a healthcare tool in the United States, preventative or otherwise.
Training & Certification
Certification and/or licensing is not required to practice feng shui in the United States. However, there are some national organizations that offer training and certification programs.
Resources
Books
Henwood, Belinda. Feng Shui: How to create harmony and balance in your living and working environment. Pownal, VT: Storey Books, 1999.
Williams, Tom. The Complete Illustrated Guide to Chinese Medicine. Boston, MA: Element Books, 1996.
Organizations
Geomancy, the Feng Shui Education Association. 2939 Ulloa Street, San Francisco, CA 94116. (415) 753-6408. http://www.geofengshui.com.
[Article by: Paula Ford-Martin]
For more information on Feng shui, visit Britannica.com.
A traditional Chinese technique for planning the layout of a building and for orienting rooms within it, so as to be in harmony with nature and with its surroundings.
In Chinese thought, a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to flow of energy (chi), and whose favourable and unfavourable effects are taken into account when designing and siting buildings.
The Taoist art and science of creating balanced and harmonious surroundings, sometimes associated with geomancy, has been practiced for centuries in China. Feng-shui has been used by the Chinese to build homes and business offices, design cities and villages, and construct tombs for the dead. In recent years Westerners have begun to study and practice feng-shui.
Practitioners of feng-shui claim that the layout and arrangement of a home greatly influences the lives of all its occupants. The alignment of furniture, color schemes, and accessories all play a part in creating an environment that both relaxes and invigorates those who live there. Simply moving a few objects or repainting a room can have a significant impact. On the other hand, misfortunes such as poor health, financial problems, marital or relationship troubles, and infertility can be attributed to a house in which feng-shui principles have been ignored.
Feng-shui is also concerned with the location of a building because its position in an area may be adversely affected by the surroundings unless appropriate countermeasures are taken to deflect negative energy.
Brief History
The Chinese developed feng-shui principles about four thousand years ago. The ancient Chinese recognized how the elements, particularly wind (feng) and water (shui), impacted life: gently flowing winds meant good harvests, stagnant water led to disease; buildings facing the north bore the brunt of dust storms that blew from Mongolia, while southern facing homes maximized the warmth of the sun. Likewise they realized how living harmoniously with surroundings made life easier: villages built among the hills were both protected from the elements and easier to defend from attackers. Legends says that the actual practice of feng-shui began with the shaman-kings who led the early Chinese tribes and understood the powers of wind and water, the changes in earth and sky, and the cycle of the seasons.
Over the centuries and throughout successive dynasties feng-shui organized and eventually was recognized as a professional skill during the Han dynasty (207 B.C.-220 B.C.E.). It was known then as K'an-yu. During the prosperous T'ang dynasty (618-907 B.C.E.) the Taoist arts flourished and K'an-yu, which involved understanding the earth's energy, expanded to en-compass the sciences of architecture, astronomy, geography, numerology, and surveying. Various schools of thought in K'anyu also developed during this dynasty.
After Kublai Khan invaded the central plains of China and established the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368 B.C.E.), Taoists were restricted from openly practicing their sciences and K'an-yu suffered a decline. The practice underwent a resurgence during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 B.C.E.). The feng-shui that is practiced today is most similar to that practiced during the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1912 B.C.E.).
Chi
Chi is the key component of feng-shui. It is roughly translated as the invisible energy that circulates through the earth and sky. Chi travels best when it imitates nature by flowing in gentle curves, rather than along straight lines, where it can move too quickly, or against sharp edges, where it can be blocked, and cause sha, or bad chi.
The Eight Directions
The eight directions of the compass (north, east, south, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest) and the center, known together as the Nine Palaces, are basic components of feng-shui. Each direction is associated with a different kind of chi energy. Knowing the characteristics of these directions and their spheres of influence allows the creation of good feng-shui. It also used in making adjustments needed to correct bad fengshui.
The Five Elements
Each of the eight directions and the center is linked to at least one of what is known as the Five Elements: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. The Chinese are able to group all things into one of these five categories. Contact with the elements is a major part of feng-shui and the interactive nature of these elements is used in enhancing positive energies and reducing negative energies.
Each of the Five Elements is related to the other in a cycle of creation and destruction. When the elements are used to enhance one another, they follow the creation cycle. For instance in the creative cycle, metal in the earth nourishes water in the ground. Water sustains vegetation that creates wood. Wood feeds fire. Fire produces ashes, forming the earth. The cycle is completed when the earth forms ore, which becomes metal. Conversely, in the destructive cycle, fire melts metal; metal cuts wood; tree roots, or wood, choke the earth; earth muddies water; water extinguishes fire.
In practicing feng-shui, one of the most effective ways to create positive energy or remedy bad energy is to make good use of the five elements. Feng-shui is easily adjusted by mixing, separating and arranging the five elements at suitable compass points within the home. The elements interact in either a creative or destructive cycle and their presentation affects the balance of the environment.
Color and Numbers
Color is yet another important aspect of balance in fengshui. Color has an effect on the look and feel of a room, but colors also have associations linked to them. For example, to the Chinese red is a lucky color, associated with life, happiness, and warmth. Green and blue are associated with new beginnings, growth and family life.
Numbers also have meaning and some are more favorable than others. Nine is considered the luckiest, partially due to apparent mystical qualities: when 9 is multiplied by an single-digit number, the sum of the two digits of the product is 9. The number 4 is considered bad-luck because its Chinese pronunciation, "si," sounds similar to the word for death. As with the elements, color and numbers are also associated with the eight compass points.
Sources:
Eitel, E. J. Feng-shui: The Rudiments of Natural Science in China. Bristol, England: Pentacle Books, 1979.
Lagatree, Kirsten M. Feng-shui: Arranging Your Home to Change Your Life. New York: Villard Books, 1996.
Rossbach, Sarah. Feng-shui: The Chinese Art of Placement. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1983.
Skinner, Stephen. The Living Earth Manual of Feng-shui: Chinese Geomancy. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982.
Too, Lillian. Essential Feng-shui: A Step-by-Step Guide to Enhancing Your Relationships, Health, and Prosperity. Ballantine Books, Inc., 1999.
Wong, Eva. Feng-Shui: The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living for Modern Times. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc. 1996.
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| Traditional Chinese: | 風水 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | 风水 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning: | wind-water | ||||||||||||
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| Tagalog: | punsoy | ||||||||||||
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| Hiragana: | ふうすい | ||||||||||||
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| Hangul: | 풍수 | ||||||||||||
| Hanja: | 風水 | ||||||||||||
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| Thai: | ฮวงจุ้ย (Huang Jui) | ||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese: | Phong thủy | ||||||||||||
In ancient times as well as today, Feng Shui, (風水) pronounced in English as [fʊŋ'ʃweɪ] ("fung shway"), was known as "Kan-Yu" which means 'The Law of Heaven and Earth.’ [1] Today's Feng Shui schools teach that it is the ancient Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with the environment. Feng shui literally translates as "wind-water." This is a cultural shorthand taken from the following passage of the Zhangshu (Book of Burial) by Guo Pu of the Jin Dynasty:[2]
The qi that rides the wind stops at the boundary of water.[3]
Feng shui is a discipline with guidelines that are compatible with many techniques of agricultural planning as well as internal furniture arrangements. Space, weather, astronomy, and geomagnetism are basic components of feng shui. Proponents claim that feng shui has an effect on health, wealth, and personal relationships.
Early feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe [4] and it is inseparable from an understanding of political power in premodern China.[5]
Chinese often used the celestial pole determined by the pole stars to determine the north-south axis of settlements. This technique explains why Shang palaces at Xiaotun lie 10° east of due north. In some cases, as Paul Wheatley observed[6], they bisected the angle between the directions of the rising and setting sun to find north. This technique provided the more precise alignments of the Shang walls at Yanshi and Zhengzhou.
Currently Early Yanshao and Hongshan cultures provide the earliest evidence for feng shui. Professor David Pankenier and his associates reviewed astronomical data for the time of the Banpo dwellings (4000 BCE) to show that the asterism Yingshi (Lay out the Hall, in the Warring States period and early Han era) corresponded to the sun's location at this time. Centuries before, the asterism Yingshi was known as Ding. It was used to indicate the appropriate time to build a capital city, according to the Shijing. Apparently an astronomical alignment ensured that Banpo village homes were sited for solar gain.[7]
The grave at Puyang (radiocarbon dated 5,000 BP) that contains mosaics of the Dragon and Tiger constellations and Beidou (Dipper) is similarly oriented along a north-south axis.[8] The presence of both round and square shapes in the Puyang tomb, and at Hongshan culture ceremonial centers, suggests that the gaitian cosmography (heaven-round, earth-square) was present in Chinese society long before it appeared in the Zhou Bu Suan Jing.[9]
Cosmography that bears a striking resemblance to modern feng shui compasses (and computations) was found on a jade unearthed at Hanshan (c. 3000 BCE). The design is linked by Li Xueqin to the liuren astrolabe, zhinan zhen, and Luopan. [10]
All capital cities of China followed rules of Feng Shui for their design and layout. These rules were codified during the Zhou era in the "Kaogong ji" (Manual of Crafts). Rules for builders were codified in the "Lu ban jing" (Carpenter's Manual). Graves and tombs also followed rules of Feng Shui. From the earliest records, it seems that the rules for the structures of the graves and dwellings were the same.
Emperor Di Ku was said to dabble in astronomy. Shun consulted the stars before he assumed the throne. There were feng shui devices before the invention of the magnetic compass, which occurred comparatively late in the long history of feng shui. According to the Zhouli the original device may have been a gnomon, although Yao, Huangdi, and other figures were said to possess devices such as the south-pointing chariot.
As Derek Walters observed[11], "The luopan was originally a scientific instrument, used for astronomical observation." The oldest excavated examples of instruments used for feng shui are liuren astrolabes. These consist of a lacquered, two-sided board with astronomical sightlines. Liuren astrolabes have been unearthed from tombs that date between 278 BC and 209 BC. The markings are virtually unchanged from the astrolabe to the first magnetic compasses.[12]
Since the invention of the magnetic compass for use in Feng Shui[13], some feng shui disciplines require the use of a compass. This compass could be a Luopan (Chinese Feng Shui compass of the types San Yuan, San He, and Zong He) or one of the earlier versions such as a south-pointing spoon (zhinan zhen).
The history of the Luopan compass takes us back to the Zhou dynasty (770-476 BCE), when emperor Shing combined the knowledge of the compass with that of the I-ching. The compass consists of a magnetic needle that point towards magnetic north not true north. The foundation of the I-ching is in the trigrams.
The trigrams are the set of three broken and/or solid lines that you typically find around a Chinese mirror.
In Traditional Compass techniques these trigrams determine the divination of fortune. The traditional Luopan has 36 rings of information. These trigrams occupy the first circle of the luopan. How these rings line up with the compass and the combination of the reading of these rings determines your fortune.
The goal of feng shui as practiced today is to situate the human built environment on spots with good qi. The "perfect spot" is a location and an axis in time. Some areas are not suitable for human settlement and should be left in their natural state.
Some current techniques can be traced to Neolithic China, while others were added in later times (most notably the Han dynasty, the Tang, and the Ming). Today, to determine a perfect spot, local manifestations of qi must be assessed for quality. Quality is determined by observations and by using a compass (Luopan).
Qi is a difficult word to translate and is usually left untranslated. Literally the word means "air". In feng shui, "Qi" means "flow of energy". Max Knoll suggested in a 1951 lecture that qi is a form of solar radiation.[14]
A Luopan is used to determine many things. One of those being to detect the direction of the flow of qi. Compasses reflect local geomagnetism which includes geomagnetically induced currents caused by space weather.[15] It could be said that feng shui assesses the quality of the local environment and the effects of space weather -- that is, feng shui is qimancy, or qi divination. [16].
Beliefs from the Axial Age, feng shui among them, hold that the heavens influence life on Earth. This seems preposterous to many people, yet space weather exists and can have profound effects on technology (GPS, power grids, pipelines, communication and navigation systems, surveys), and the internal orienting faculties of birds and other creatures.[17][18][19] Atmospheric scientists have suggested that space weather creates fluctuations in market prices.[20][21]
Polarity is expressed in feng shui as Yin and Yang. The polarity within feng shui is buildings of the living (yang) and buildings of the dead (yin).
The stability of Magnetic North is critical for the accuracy of reading your fortune with a compass. Earth has an electromagnetic field. Our solar sun also has an electromagnetic field. Our solar sun goes through 11 year cycles of solar fluctuations called solar flares that create solar wind. In 2003 two of the strongest flares ever recorded. This solar wind creates a vibration that disturbs the electromagnetic field of the earth.
Magnetic North and True North (the Earth’s axis) are not the same. Magnet North moves an average of 40 kilometers every year. In the last 100 years Magnetic North has moved approximately 1200 kilometers. Due to solar flares, Magnetic North is always in constant movement, creating conflicting readings on a compass.
Two diagrams known as bagua (or pa kua) loom large in feng shui, and both predate their mentions in the Yijing or I Ching. The Lo (River) Chart (Luoshu, or Later Heaven Sequence) and the River Chart (Hetu, or Early Heaven Sequence) are linked to astronomical events of the sixth millennium BCE, and with the Turtle Calendar from the time of Yao.[22] The Turtle Calendar of Yao (found in the Yaodian section of the Shangshu or 'Book of Documents') dates to 2300 BCE, plus or minus 250 years.[23]
It seems clear from many sources that time, in the form of astronomy and calendars, is at the heart of feng shui.
In Yaodian, the cardinal directions are determined by the marker-stars of the mega-constellations known as the Four Celestial Animals.
East: the Bluegreen Dragon (Spring equinox) --- Niao (Bird), α Hydrae
South: the Red Bird (Summer solstice) --- Huo (Fire), α Scorpionis
West: the White Tiger (Autumn equinox) --- Xu (Emptiness, Void), α, β Aquarii
North: the Dark (Mysterious) Turtle (Winter solstice) --- Mao (Hair), η Tauri (the Pleiades)
The bagua diagrams are also linked with the sifang (four directions) method of divination used during the Shang dynasty.[24] The sifang is much older, however. It was used at Niuheliang, and figured large in Hongshan culture's astronomy. And it is this area of China that is linked to Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, who allegedly invented the south-pointing spoon.[25]
A school in Feng Shui terminology is a technique. The term should not be confused with the physical school. There are many 'masters' of the different Feng shui schools. However, some maintain that authentic masters impart their genuine knowledge of Feng shui only to selected students.[26]
The history of feng shui covers at least 3,500 years before the invention of the magnetic compass,[27] defining authentic feng shui as having a "compass school" and a "form school" misses the point.
Feng Shui developed thousands of years ago in little villages of the Orient. It was called Folk Feng Shui[28]. Their livelihoods were dependent on it. They studied the formations of the land and ways of the wind & water to determine the best setting for their survival. Good Feng Shui would produce bountiful harvest, healthy livestock and abundant life. Harsh winds would destroy their crops leaving no food for their family and their animals. Violent storms tear down their homes and villages.
The elements, water, rain, wind, fog, sun were believed to be the energy of heaven and earth. These shaman-kings had knowledge of landforms and weather, that could drive back the elements that threaten a village. This divinization of land forms was the beginning and foundation of Feng Shui.
Landform Technique is the fundamental basis of feng shui. Compass Feng Shui originated after Landform techniques. Compass Feng Shui uses the compass and magnetic north for all of it's readings.
In his fieldwork in China, Ole Bruun[29] noted that traditional methods of feng shui (increasingly referred to worldwide as "classical feng shui") all use a compass. Traditional or classical Feng shui is what is practiced and taught in Asia. Classical Feng shui has some features similar to those found in the archaeological record, and in Chinese history and literature, but the application of classical Feng Shui is not identical to that of ancient Feng Shui techniques.
Classical feng shui is typically associated with the following techniques. This is not a complete list; it is merely a list of the most common techniques.[30]
One of the grievances mentioned when the anti-Western Boxer Rebellion broke out was that Westerners were violating the basic principles of Feng shui in their construction of railroads and other conspicuous public structures throughout China. At the time, the Westerners concerned had indeed little idea of or interest in such Chinese traditions.
Since Richard Nixon journeyed to The People's Republic of China in 1972, there has been substantial interests on the subject of feng shui by Westerners. It has been reinvented by New Age entrepreneurs for Western consumption. Feng shui speaks to the profound role of magic, mystery, and order in American life.[31] This is a curious twist given that feng shui cannot be legally practised in its country of origin today.
The following list does not exhaust the varieties.
Black Sect -- Incorporated as a US church in 1984, with temples in California and New York. (The church deviates from what is known of the history of Tantrism in China.) [32]
This new version of Feng Shui was invented in the early 1980s by Thomas Lin Yun Rinpoche who came to the US from Taiwan. [33] Called Black Sect (or Black Sect Tantric Buddhist, or BTB) Feng Shui, it relies on "transcendental" methods, the concept of clutter as metaphor for life circumstances, and the use of affirmations or intentions (what some deride as "happy talk").[34] BTB Feng Shui has a unique and specially created bagua, with each of the eight compass segment directions representing a particular area of one's life.
Shen Dao Feng Shui - Developed in the late '70's by Harrison G.Kyng.
Shen Dao style became the first school of its type in the UK. Based upon both 'Form' and 'Compass' styles, Shen Dao utilises the Five Element modality to assess its clients health as well as their buildings harmony. This relationship is said to create a unique 'viewpoint' that can then be used to create a greater sense of harmony both inwardly and outwards. Shen Dao's unique compass uses the former heavenly sequence and expands the Ba Gua into over 300 harmonics that help to fine tune its results.
Victorian-era commentators on feng shui were generally ethnocentric, and as such skeptical and derogatory of what little they knew of feng shui.[35]
In 1896 at a meeting of the Educational Association of China, Rev. P.W. Pitcher railed at the "rottenness of the whole scheme of Chinese architecture," and urged fellow missionaries "to erect unabashedly Western edifices of several stories and with towering spires in order to destroy nonsense about fung-shuy." [36]
Some modern Christians have a similar opinion of feng shui.[37]
It is entirely inconsistent with Christianity to believe that harmony and balance result from the manipulation and channeling of nonphysical forces or energies, or that such can be done by means of the proper placement of physical objects. Such techniques, in fact, belong to the world of sorcery.[38]
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, feng shui has been officially deemed as a "feudalistic superstitious practice" and a "social evil" according to the state's atheistic Communist ideology and discouraged or even outright banned at times [39][40]. Persecution was the severest during the Cultural Revolution, when feng shui was classified as a custom under the so-called Four Olds to be wiped out. Feng shui practitioners were beaten and abused by Red Guards and their works burned. After the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the official attitude became more tolerant but restrictions on feng shui practice are still in place in today's China. It is illegal in the PRC today to register feng shui consultation as a business and similarly advertising feng shui practice is banned, and there have been frequent crackdowns on feng shui practitioners on the grounds of "promoting feudalistic superstitions" such as one in Qingdao in early 2006 when the city's business and industrial administration office shut down an art gallery converted into a feng shui practice [41]. Communist officials who had consulted feng shui are sacked and expelled from the Communist Party [42].
Partly because of the Cultural Revolution, in today's PRC less than one-third of the population believe in feng shui, and the proportion of believers among young urban PRC Chinese is said to be much less than 5% [43]. Among all the ethnic Chinese communities the PRC has the least number of feng shui believers in proportion to the general population. Learning feng shui is considered taboo in today's China.[44] Nevertheless, it is reported that feng shui has gained adherents among Communist Party officials according to a BBC Chinese news commentary in 2006. [45], and since the beginning of Chinese economic reforms the number of feng shui practitioners are increasing. A number of Chinese academics permitted to research on the subject of feng shui are anthropologists or architects by trade, studying the history of feng shui or historical feng shui theories behind the design of heritage buildings, such as Cao Dafeng, the Vice-President of Fudan University[46], and Liu Shenghuan of Tongji University.
Feng Shui practitioners have been skeptical of claims and methods in the "cultural supermarket."[47] Mark Johnson[48] made a telling point:
This present state of affairs is ludicrous and confusing. Do we really believe that mirrors and flutes are going to change people's tendencies in any lasting and meaningful way? ... There is a lot of investigation that needs to be done or we will all go down the tubes because of our inability to match our exaggerated claims with lasting changes.
A travelogue-type article from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry explained feng shui initially as "a commonsense alignment of structures to conform to the shape of the land, an idea shared by any sensible architect in a land fraught with typhoons and torrential rains." However, after reading two books (one by field researcher Ole Bruun), the writer's conclusion was that feng shui "is more of a mystical belief in cosmic harmony."[49]
Penn & Teller did an episode of their television show
People have reacted skeptically towards the alleged benefits of crystals, wind chimes, table fountains, and mirrored balls, etc., on one's life, finances, and relationships. Often, these claims are dismissed as New Age, pseudoscience, relying on the placebo effect, or even outright fraud.
A growing body of research exists on what is now called "traditional" or "classical" feng shui.
Landscape ecologists find traditional feng shui an interesting study.[50] In many cases, the only remaining patches of old forest in Asia are "feng shui woods," which strongly suggests the "healthy homes,"[51] sustainability[52] and environmental components of ancient feng shui techniques should not be easily dismissed.[53][54]
Environmental scientists and landscape architects have researched traditional feng shui and its methodologies.[55][56]
Architectural schools study the principles as they applied to ancient vernacular architecture[57][58][59].
Geographers have analyzed the techniques and methods to help locate historical sites in Victoria, Canada,[60] and archaeological sites in the American Southwest, concluding that ancient Native Americans considered astronomy and landscape features. [61]
Whether it is data on comparisons to scientific models, or the design and siting of buildings,[62] graduate and undergraduate students have been accumulating solid evidence on what researchers call the "exclusive Chinese cultural achievement and experience in architecture"[63] that is feng shui.
Architects in Sydney and Hong Kong were surveyed by researchers regarding their selection of the environment for a building and interior layout. The architects generally concurred with the ideal feng shui model.[64]
The hospitality industry has documented the expensive retrofits members must undertake when accommodations were not designed with feng shui principles in mind.[65]
Donald Trump and Britain's Prince Charles have used feng shui.[66]
News Corporation consulted feng shui experts regarding the headquarters offices of DirecTV after News Corp. acquired that company in 2003.[67]
It has also recently been included in the Lockie Leonard TV series.
Cowboy Bebop featured an episode called "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui" with a young girl as a Feng Shui master's daughter.
In the TV advertisement to promote the sales of "The
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Real Estate Dictionary. Dictionary of Real Estate Terms. Copyright © 2004 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Alternative Medicine Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Philosophy Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Feng shui". Read more |
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