Post by bluefedish on Jan 7, 2008 13:18:53 GMT -5
In ancient times as well as today, Feng Shui, was known as "Kan-Yu" which means 'The Law of Heaven and Earth.’
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."
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; critics consider it a pseudoscience.
Early feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe and it is insepartable from an understanding of political power in premodern China.
Chinese often used the celestial poles determined by the pole stars to determine the northsouth axis of settlements. This technique explains why Shang palaces at Xiaotun lie 10° east of due north. In some cases, as Paul Wheatley observied, 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 (4000BCE) to show that the asterism Yungshi (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 know 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.
The grave at Puyang (radiocarbon dated 5000BP) that contains mosaics of the Dragon and Tiger constellations and Beidou (Dipper) is similarly oriented along a northsouth axis. 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.
Cosmography that bears a striking resemblance to modern feng shui compasses (and computations) were found on a jade unearthed at Hanshan (c. 3000BCE). The design is linked by Li Xueqin to the liuren astrolabe, zhinan zhen, and Luopan.
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.
Modern Usage
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.
The hospitality industry has documented the expensive retrofits members must undertake when accommodations were not designed with feng shui principles in mind.
Prince Charles of Wales and Donald Trump have been accused of using feng shui.
News Corporation consulted feng shui experts regarding the headquarters offices of DirecTV after News Corp. acquired that company in 2003.
Cowboy Bebop featured an episode called "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui" which centered around the search of a Feng Shui master by his daughter. By using Feng Shui principles and the use of of a luopan coupled with some sci-fi elements, the Bebop crew help locate the master in an unexpected place.
In the TV advertisement to promote the sales of "The Beverly Hills", Tai Po, Hong Kong, real estate project of Henderson Land Development in 2007, many Feng Shui masters, most famous in Hong Kong, are shown made their own speeches of advantages of living there.
It has also recently been included in the Lockie Leonard TV series.
Selected Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Shui
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."
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; critics consider it a pseudoscience.
Early feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe and it is insepartable from an understanding of political power in premodern China.
Chinese often used the celestial poles determined by the pole stars to determine the northsouth axis of settlements. This technique explains why Shang palaces at Xiaotun lie 10° east of due north. In some cases, as Paul Wheatley observied, 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 (4000BCE) to show that the asterism Yungshi (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 know 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.
The grave at Puyang (radiocarbon dated 5000BP) that contains mosaics of the Dragon and Tiger constellations and Beidou (Dipper) is similarly oriented along a northsouth axis. 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.
Cosmography that bears a striking resemblance to modern feng shui compasses (and computations) were found on a jade unearthed at Hanshan (c. 3000BCE). The design is linked by Li Xueqin to the liuren astrolabe, zhinan zhen, and Luopan.
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.
Modern Usage
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.
The hospitality industry has documented the expensive retrofits members must undertake when accommodations were not designed with feng shui principles in mind.
Prince Charles of Wales and Donald Trump have been accused of using feng shui.
News Corporation consulted feng shui experts regarding the headquarters offices of DirecTV after News Corp. acquired that company in 2003.
Cowboy Bebop featured an episode called "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui" which centered around the search of a Feng Shui master by his daughter. By using Feng Shui principles and the use of of a luopan coupled with some sci-fi elements, the Bebop crew help locate the master in an unexpected place.
In the TV advertisement to promote the sales of "The Beverly Hills", Tai Po, Hong Kong, real estate project of Henderson Land Development in 2007, many Feng Shui masters, most famous in Hong Kong, are shown made their own speeches of advantages of living there.
It has also recently been included in the Lockie Leonard TV series.
Selected Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Shui
