Feng-shui, which literally means wind(feng) and water (shui) is the art of living in harmony with the land andderiving the greatest benefit, peace and prosperity from being in the rightplace at the right time (Skinner 1989 : 1). The orientation and form ofworkplaces, homes, or graves can be better, luckier or more blessed than othersdue to the different type and amount of ch’i the settings holds. Feng-shuitechniques, which tell the rules of the site that is able to generate and keepin good Chi, make it possible for people to find or construct a site with goodfeng-shui. The aim of feng-shui, then, is to harmonize and change theenvironment in order to improve fortunes.
I will first introduce the geographicalbases of feng-shui, where the south is warm and the north is cold. Then I willtalk about the concepts of feng-shui that are taken from Taoism, such as yinyang and ch’i. Based on the previous concepts, there are at least five aspectsto look for in a good feng-shui site: land, water, mountains, entrance, andlandscape. Feng-shui practice was extremely popular in ancient China. However,it is considered as superstition and banned by Chinese government nowadays. Inthe second half of my paper, I want to use the Bird’s Nest as an example todemonstrate that feng-shui is actually a continuing practice in mainland China,even if the government denies its existence.
Geographical Bases of Feng-shui
The art of feng-shui has stronggeographical and historical bases that are specific to the landscape of China. AncientChinese believe that they were in the well-balanced “Middle Kingdom,” literallythe center of the habitable world. A long-lasting belief that places outsideChina are inferior paired with a consistent foreign policy of several millenniathat cut China from the rest of the world also reinforced this view. Theoutcome of this belief is obvious: traditional Chinese geography insisted thatall rivers flew eastwards (as indeed most do in China), and also that the watersources of the rivers were all located in the west (Skinner 1989: 7). Also, forbeing an agricultural-based civilization from the beginning, Chinese peoplepaid special attention to the lands that are able to provide the greatestamount of crop. Because of the geographical location of China, the sun is tothe south of China during noon. A house that sited halfway up a hill on thenorth side of the river and faced the south is able to receive optimum sun andgain access to water sources. Also because the house is halfway up a hill,instead of in the foot of the hill, it is able to avoid harsh winds from thenorth and disastrous floods from the top of the mountain. A harmonious environmentlike this is desired by people, because feng, wind, and shui, water do not harmthe people living in it. Therefore, feng-shui has a scientific foundation inChina.
Taoism andFeng-shui
YinYang
The development of Feng-shui is highlyaffected by Taoism, a philosophy based on patterns and nature. Tao, literallymeans way, principle, process, or road (Rossbach 1983 : 84). Behind the naturalpattern of the universe is Tao, the underlying rule of nature. Though objects allhave different appearances, those differences only exist on the surface, behindwhich is the same principle of Tao. Since Taoists propose that everything isinterrelated, human body is related to the cosmos intensely and is highlyaffected by the cosmos. The way Tao works is to unite everything, exemplify theneed of nature and man, and bring all opposing forces and beings in to afluctuating harmony. Thus, Tao is able to balance the opposing forces insidehuman bodies and environments. One is able to find the harmony of human beingsin the setting of the environment, and vice versa.
Yin yang Symbol in Taoism
The two opposing forces, yin and yang,in Tao are crucial and affect deeply of how feng-shui works. Yin and yang arethe two primordial guiding forces of the universe, and the proper combinationof the two symbolizes harmony. Yin and yang are totally opposite concepts. Yinstands for dark, cold, underworld and female, while yang, which is the samecharacter as sun, is light, warm, life and male. Though yin and yang are two extremities,they are not contradicting, but complementary. Yin yang symbol, which has ayang dot in the yin side and a yin dot in the yang side, shows this complementaryquality clearly. All things contain different degrees of yin and yang. Yin andyang continually interact with each other and create cyclical changes, behindwhich is the rule of Tao (Rossbach 1987 : 45). In feng-shui, the yin and yangof a site, such as the coldness of the gravesite and the warmness of the sun,must be balanced in order to bring residents into harmony with theirsurroundings.
Ch’i
Other than yin and yang, another veryimportant concept of feng-shui that is taken from Tao is the idea of ch’i. Ch’sis a life essence, a motivating force that is vital for the universe. Just asthe same way blood works for body, ch’i is the blood of the world. Ch’i existsin both human body and cosmos and works in similar way in both. Positive andfresh Chi vitalizes one’s body and environment while negative and rusty Ch’i isdetrimental to the wellbeing of the body and the prosperity of the environment.The flow of Ch’i follows the pattern of Tao. Tao, which determines the balanceof yin and yang, also determines the balance between the atmospheric ch’i andhuman ch’i. Since atmospheric ch’i and human ch’i are affected and shaped byeach other, a site with good feng-shui is the one that allows the balance offresh ch’i between the site and people.
5Criteria for a Good Feng-shui Site
Now I am going to delineate thequalities for a good feng-shui site. To find or construct one, people usuallyhire feng-shui practitioners. Though normal people might be able to discern thefeng-shui of a specific site if they have trained themselves through readings,feng-shui practice is usually case-specific and asks for one’s experience. Feng-shuipractitioners are different from normal people because they became thedisciples of a feng-shui master for training of feng-shui at a very young ageand thus usually grew up in a good feng-shui setting which in turn goodintuition of the disciples and master due to the good ch’i in the site.
There are five basic aspects to look forin a good feng-shui site: land, water, mountains, entrance, and landscape, whichtogether provide a U-shape site that has a plain with an armchair-like mountainin the back and an entrance to the south (Wong 1996 : 24).
Land
A good locationof architecture is the very first requirement for good feng-shui. To ensure thecontinuous flow of ch’i, buildings, either tombs or towns, should be constructedon sloping well-drained land. This kind of settlement avoids the potentialunhealthy ch’i generated by flood as can be seen in low land areas.
Water
Water isessential for a good site because it is the means to transport ch’i. While afast-flowing river that goes straightly towards a house is not favorablebecause it takes away good ch’i, meandering water that is slow and follows asinuous pathway is a prerequisite for a good site. The slow speed of the waterenables the site to generate ch’i gradually, and the curve of the water forms acircle that helps to hold in good ch’i inside the circle.
Mountains
To the north ofthe settlement, there should be a mountainous shield or screen of trees inorder to protect the place from invasion of strong yin ch’i from the north.Just as mentioned before, north in China represents coldness. If there is agravesite in the setting, it should be on the south-facing slope of themountain that is located in the north. In this way, the balance between yin andyang is achieved, because the grave, which is yin, lies in the northern yinpart north while receiving warmth from the south.
Entrance
The entrance tothe setting should always be to the south so that it can let in more positivech’i from the warm south. In ancient China, cities are all walled into squareshape with due north and south directions, because Chinese believe that theheaven is round and the earth is a square. The entrances of the city are hugegates located in the south wall guarded by warriors who opened the gates asspecific times so that both people and positive ch’i can enter the city.
Landscape
Other than northversus south, the other set of yin yang forces is the yang in the east, whichforms an azure dragon, and the yin in the west, which forms a white tiger. Thedragon and tiger are two of the four guarding animals in the myth of ancientChina. In traditional landscape, they represent the ridges of the mountains. Theother two are phones (red bird) in the south and tortoise (dark warrior) in thenorth. Azure dragon is mountain with boldly rising elevation, whilst uneven,softly undulating ground (relatively smoother mountains) is white tiger (Knapp2000 : 120). In Chinese culture, left side, where male usually stand, has ahigher status than the right side, the place for female. In this way, bylocating yang on the east and yin on the west, the emperor, who faces thewarmer south, is able to have yang force on the left and yin force on theright.
Based onprevious criteria, it is obvious that completely flat land is not auspiciousfrom a feng-shui point of view, and an ideal site is one that has a U-shape orarmchair-like mountain in the back and plain in the front. The constructedarchitecture should be “in tune” with the environment. A building shouldneither be too obtrusive or obvious compared to the surroundings, nor overlyunremarkable. A well-designed building should either blend in or furtheremphasize a specific feature of the surrounding.
In city feng-shui today, more criteriaare added, such as the name, shape, or even color of skyscrapers. I focus onthe roads in the city. Though roads are normally straight, they share the samecriteria with rivers in the sense that roads are not suppose go directlytowards a building. The reason is simple: residents who face the traffic goingto them are victims of the killing ch’i brought by the fierce winds of theroaring cars (Knapp 1989). Instead, a place next to the cross of roads has goodfeng-shui, because at least for small vendors and shops, this is the placewhere people slow down and buy things.
Now, I have finished introducing thebasic criteria for feng-shui. I want to explain the importance of feng-shui forthe destiny of China. When China was in its dynastic period, because feng-shuiwas such a strong belief, all emperors hired practitioners to determine theshapes of cities that were able to help the nation to last long and todetermine their gravesites which were also believed as related to theprosperity of the nation greatly (Knapp 2006 : 47). However, customs related tofeng-shui were attacked by Kuomintang and Communist Party later. During theCultural Revelution and the Great Leap Forward, Chairman Mao cursed feng-shuipractice as superstition and asked for its eradication (Steinmüller 2010: 89).Even in nowadays China, when the restrictions on traditional practices arelessened, feng-shui is still stigmatized as ‘feudal superstition’ (Bruun 2003: 50).One is not able to see any feng-shui stores in mainland China, which arepopular in places where traditional Chinese practices are popular, such as HongKong, Taiwan and Singapore. But, even if the Chinese government does not wantto admit the existence of feng-shui, feng-shui practice is everywhere in China,even if in the newly-built public architectures (Bruun 2003). I will examinethe Bird’s Nest, the National Stadium in Beijing, to show that its constructionclearly follows the rules set by feng-shui.
The construction of Beijing follows closelywith the techniques of Feng-shui. The placement of the Bird’s Nest ensures thefree flow of ch’i in Beijing by following the central axis set in ancient time.The central part of the city, which is designed and built in ancient China, isa square-shaped construction (Wang 1996). There are mountains in the north,west and east sides, which provides as the reason for Beijing being a prosperouscity with especially great feng-shui. Bird’s Nest, located in the north ofBeijing and to the east of central line of the city, is the place that held theOlympic Games in 2008. The location of Bird’s Nest is carefully selected. Tothe north of Bird’s Nest is the Olympic Park, which is built to provide as thescreen of trees to keep the settlement from the cold yin of the north. I alsowant to point out the central axis line here. This is extension of the samecentral axis formed in ancient of China. As we can see, only gates, which wereused as entrances in ancient China, lie on the central axis to allow the flowof Chi. By locating to the east of central axis, Bird’s Next ensures the freeflow of the Chi from the south to the north while also follows the rule ofmodern feng-shui – the direct facing towards a road is detrimental due to theintense killing Chi caused by the traffic.
Not disturbing the entering of ch’i isnot enough. The late next to the main structure of the Bird’s Nest also helpsto generate and hold in good ch’i. To the west of Bird’s Nest is a meanderinglake with several curves. This is an artificial lake and was not in theoriginal design of the Bird’s Nest. After consulting the “cultural experts,”(who are feng-shui practitioners in reality) the name employed by Chineseofficials, who said that the site was lack of water and the means to facilitatethe flow of ch’i, Chinese government asked the designer to add this lake intothe construction of the site. Later, when foreign reporters questioned if thelake is a practice of feng-shui, Chinese government replied that it was merelyan environmental issue that were not thought of in the original design. Theshape of the lake is not randomly designed either. It is dragon pattern. On onehand, this follows the basic requirements of an ideal feng-shui site. On theother hand, this specific shape is able to bring good luck to the OlympicGames, because Chinese believe themselves as descendants of dragon. So dragonshape is auspicious.
After examining the location andsurroundings of the Bird’s Nest, I want to focus on the building itself. In modernfeng-shui, the shape of architecture is especially important. The Bird’s Nestis sycee-shaped. Sycee is the ancient form of money used by Chinese in dynasticperiod. The outside part of the Sycee is higher than the middle. The Bird’sNext, which has a huge hole in the middle, is a good representation for sycee-shapearchitecture. Since sycee is highly desired by Chinese, architecture in syceeshape, a lucky shape, brings good fortune to the country.
The entrance of the building followsfeng-shui also, because it faces the south. Though there are five entrances tothe Bird’s Nest in total, only the one facing the south is regularly used,either for tourisms or for competitions. The other four gates are only openwhen huge competitions are held in the Bird’s Next, so that people are able toevacuate the building when it is necessary. There are two reasons for the prioruse of the south entrance. One is that the south entrance is closer to thesubway station, so that people do not have to walk a long way to enter thebuilding. Another more important reason is related to feng-shui, which asks forthe entrance to be in the south to allow in positive chi.
The idea behind the construction of theBird’s Nest shows the balance between yin and yang, which creates harmony andis crucial for good feng-shui. The two Chinese characters used in the name ofthe structure are 鸟(Niao) 巢 (Chao): the former means bird, andthe latter means nest. Niao, which is also the character for male’s genitals, isthe representation for vigor and energy. Therefore, Niao stands for yang forceof the architecture. Chao has dual meanings too: nest and ovary of female. SoChao obviously represents for yin force. The energetic Niao is balanced withthe symbol of female Chao. It is clear that the yin yang forces are balanced.
The name Niao Chao is more than the yinyang balance, but a representation of Beijing city and a hope for a successfulOlympic Games. Yanjing, the original name of Beijing, is still widely used inmany brands in China today. Yanjing means a place for swallow, a kind of birds.Niao Chao, which is the nest for birds, represents the protector of Beijing inthe sense that it labeled itself as the nest for birds. By putting Niao andChao together, we have a famous Chinese saying which is Bai Niao Gui Chao (百鸟归巢),which is used to describe places that are able to hold a huge amount of people.Since the Bird’s Nest is the place to receive Olympic athletes all over theworld, a name implying similar meaning is definitely auspicious.
After examining the Bird’s Nest itself,I will study the Bird’s Nest with the Water Cube together to show two sets ofbalances: heaven versus earth and yin versus yang. Since Bird’s Nest is thehome for birds, it is related to the heaven; since water flows on the ground,water cube is related to the earth. In Chinese traditional belief, heaven isround, below which the earth is square. The shapes of the Bird’s Nest and theWater Cube follow the traditional belief in the way that the former isround-shaped while the latter is square-shaped. 天地(Tian Di), which literally means heaven and earth, is theChinese word used for a period of time or frontier. Since both of thesearchitectures are newly built for the Olympic, they two together form a newperiod of time, or new epoch. By lying on the same central axis as the ForbiddenCity, the old central place for Beijing, the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cubetogether form a group of conspicuous architectures that represent stepping intothe new era on time progression (Qi 2010 : 64). Thus, this combinationrepresents that it is now a new century and a new universe for China.
The yin yang balance of the Water Cubeand the Bird’s Nest follows the ideal image of good feng-shui. The Water Cubecontains huge amount of water. Since water is cold, the Water Cube belongs toyin. The Bird’s Nest is a porous bowl-like structure that has a huge open airspace in the middle. This design allows the Bird’s Nest to receive mass amountof sunlight. Since sunlight is warm, the Bird’s Nest, the container of the warmth,belongs to yang (Lou 2011 : 9). The combination of the Water Cube and the Bird’sNest is a combination of mass amount of water and sunlight. Thus, the yin yangbalance is achieved.
The positions of yin and yang are alsoideal in the site. Since the Bird’s Nest is to the east of the central axis andthe Water Cube is to the west, a person, who faces the south, the positivedirection of Beijing, is able to have yang force on the left and yin force onthe right. So, just as required in the ideal model of feng-shui, yang is in theeast and yin is in the west.
Conclusion
To sum up, feng-shui is an importantancient Chinese art that still plays a huge role in China today, even if thegovernment denies its existence. Feng-shui developed from the daily practicespecifically related to the natural environment in China. Because the sun is tothe south of China, houses that face south are able to receive more sunlightcompared to ones facing the north. Thus, warm south is preferred than coldnorth. Later on, feng-shui took elements from Taoism, such as yin yang and ch’i,to pursue the balance of opposing forces in the setting. Yin and yang are twoopposing but complementary forces and the right combination of the two is ableto generate harmony. Ch’i is the vitalizing force of the universe. Feng-shuiaims to ensure the free flow of healthy ch’i so that the architecture or theenvironment can contribute to the prosperity of the people living in. Based onthe previous concepts, a traditional good feng-shui site should have anarmchair-like mountain in the back in order to prevent the negative ch’i fromthe north and allows the positive ch’i from the south to enter.
In ancient China, the practice offeng-shui is considered legal by the emperor, who himself hired practitionersto find the site with good feng-shui. Though feng-shui is deemed assuperstition in nowadays China, its techniques and practices still play animportant role, as we can see in the construction and placement of the publicarchitecture, the Bird’s Nest.
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