The term Feng Shui
In the old classical texts “Kanyu” was the term used together with other words such as: Dili, Xingfa, Qingwu, Qinglang, Puzhai, Xiangzhai, Tuzhai, Yin-yang, terms used to address the broad issues of the links between Chinese cosmology (heaven) and Chinese social reality (earth).
Kanyu was a second century general who lived during the Three Kingdoms period from 220 to 280 CE. Kanyu developed a number of axioms that were used to build many of the Chinese traditional cities.
To find the best place to build a city, Xue, Long and Sha would need to be found. To find Xue (good Qi energy) one must follow Long (the dragon) and Sha (ridges and water courses).
A well-known example of traditional architecture using Kanyu principles is Wudang City. During Tang Dynasty (627-649 CE) Tang Taizong demanded the construction of Wulong Ancestral Temple. The location and construction was done based on three premises (Yi Hongji, 2000:30):
certain structure locations are more favourable than others for a family;
these locations can be found with the way of Kanyu;
these locations must therefore be determined in order for benefits to redound both to those discerning them and to their descendants.
Two interpreters of Kanyu teachings were assigned to the task. It took more than a year to find the right place using Xue, Long, Sha axioms.
It was only towards the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that the term “Fengshui” replaced Kanyu. Ci-hai, one of the most important Chinese lexicons edited by a group of authoritative intellectual in China, defined the phrase Fengshui as “a superstition in ancient China, according to which the surrounding situation of residences and graves can decide the fortune of the residents and the offspring of the dead”.
In the west Fengshui has many substitutes. The word “geomancy” is the most popular translation of Kanyu, which was used in Joseph Needham’s “Science and Civilization in China” (Vol 2, 359). However, many found this inadequate, suggesting instead “topomancy” (Stephen Feuchtwang,1974:2); or “astro-ecology”, “topographical siting”, and “siting” (Steven J. Bennett,1978:2); or “mystical ecology” (Ronald Knapp, 1986:108); or “natural science of the landscape” (Lars Berglund, 1990:240).
The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions says*: Feng-shui is a Chinese art or skill of geomancy. Taking account of the five elements and the two forces of yin and yang. The practitioners use a circular wooden plate on which the outline neo-Confucian cosmography is inscribed. They then determine the best site for buildings, graves, temples, etc.”*
As we can see there are many terms and descriptions used. The more recent and generic description of Fengshui used in the West (books, schools, etc), refers to it as the traditional Chinese art and science of living in harmony with the environment. Feng means wind and Shui means water. It is the way of seeing and interacting with the energy of the universe, rooted in Chinese culture and Taoist philosophy.
Having becoming popular in the late 90s and early 2000s, there are today thousands of books on the topic of Fengshui in different languages, so it is likely that definitions and descriptions will vary from what used to be a simple word.
I find the generic descriptions only helpful as they flag that Fengshui is a traditional Chinese art, meaning it comes from a culture different from any other in the West. A history and culture that has to be comprehended for a proper contextualisation and application of the art of Feng Shui.
Architecture
Wuchang is a good example of a traditional city in China developed using Fengshui principles. It was originally developed from the idea of Fengshui, but when a new cultural and political power became official, Fengshui became the symbol of old identity and it was set to change as well Wuchang. During the transformation process, a new metropolis called Wuhan, was developed and Wuchang became one of the three parts of this new metropolis in 1927. Following 80 years of construction, Wuchang, a city that enjoyed more than 1000 years of history, was modernised and transformed.
After the First Opium War 1839-1842 during Qing China with the British, with the signing of treaty of extraterritoriality, the Chinese began to observe the outside world with new eyes and learn from the western countries. The government initiated a movement nationwide founding factories, reforming the education system and releasing newspapers. Such a movement to learn from the western countries is titled in Chinese history as Westernization Movement. The carrying out of westernized policies aroused nonetheless heated responses in China. Traditionalists argued that the essential means to govern a country does not base on skill but on morality, not on science but on spirit. But the reformists stood their ground in “beating the westerners with their own good methods” and called for “studies of the many western sciences in order to safeguard the traditional Chinese culture identity”.
Zhang Zhidong, a famous minister at that time, released his discourse in May 1898, concluding the previous debates on Chinese and western cultures as well as proposing the theory of “Chinese Identity Western Technology” (Feng Tianyu, 1994:161-168).
“Chinese Identity, Western Technology” finally created a feasibly official mode. Under the banner of this mode, Western cultures set foot in the demesne of “Ying-yang” and “Wu-xing”, bringing impacts on “Chinese Identity” as well as “Chinese traditional sciences” and catalyzing their changes in its own course. However, Kanyu was still in its prevailing stage from 1840 onward to 1900. Common Chinese never changed their attitude towards Kanyu due to some theoretical debates. Not without hostility to western cultures, the majority believed such alien buildings compromised the local Feng-shui (De Groot, 1892-1910: 1029).
The city of Wuchang was still the classical example on Kanyu principles in this period, it was built along the Yangzi river, but closed by the city-wall. The Great change, however, was coming close it: the south center of Westernization Movement was kindled the city of Hanyang, which is on the other side of Yangzi river. Moreover, the Hankou, which has became the western concessions since 1861, has became a more and more important city in China.
New Culture Campaign
Chinese society changed rapidly from 1900 to 1950. During this period, China experienced the abolition of monarchism (1911), the Civil War (1937-1945) and the rise of Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is also during these 50 years that the “New Culture Movement” came into being and had a wide spread. Because many intellectuals negated the value of traditional culture radically, many social customs began to transform. Kanyu was one of them. Liang Qichao, one of the most famous intellectuals at that time, once concluded the procedure of learning from western cultures with three stages: stage 1, the insufficiency in technology was recognized; stage 2, the insufficiency in laws and systems was recognized; stage 3, the insufficiency in culture was recognized. (Feng Tianyu, 1994:169)
Following the light of this theory, some Chinese intellectuals rapidly began to recognize the “insufficiency in culture” and initiated the movement of “New Culture Movement” to spread western cultures to deeper and wider aspects. It is the “New Culture Movement” that devaluated Kanyu rapidly in Chinese society. Firstly, Chinese intellectuals ascribed the poverty of the country to superstition and lack of western science, and Kanyu was a representative of those superstitious practices. Secondly, as one of the key achievements of the “New Culture Movement”, the discarding of the old Chinese written style (Wen-yanwen) made a great obstacle to passing down Kanyu as well as other intangible heritage. Thirdly, because the “New Culture Movement” negated generally the traditional culture, the following generations showed a common doubt about traditional Chinese cultural values. It shook the basis of Kanyu radically.
During the 50 years from 1900 to 1949, the Wuhan City was born and Wuchang city became one of the three towns of this new large city. Wuchang began to change following the style of Hankou. In fact, Wuhan has twice became the capital of China. In the plan of the new leader, Mr. Zhongshan Sun, the City of Wuhan will be the most international city in the world.
Communism in China
On October 1, 1949, CCP declared the naissance of the People’s Republic of China. The new regime didn’t allow the existence of old ideas and tried hard to crush all the carriers of non-communist thoughts. It is during the period from 1950 to 1979, namely the first 30 years of its reign, that the government demolished traditional culture violently. Fengshui was labeled “Trash of traditional culture” rightly after the founding of new regime. Even during the loosest period of CCP’s reign (1956, the Hundred Flowers Campaign), Kanyu was among the forbidden. During 1960s, “the Socialist Education Movement” (1963-1965) and “the Cultural Revolution” (1967-1976) led to the chaotic and extreme opinions among the new generations. The utmost denigration of traditional culture became a fashion. The bearers’ disappearance, such as the loss of architecture, books and experts, is an invaluable loss to Chinese new generations. Fengshui, naturally, the bearers of Fengshui became the taboo. In the 1950s, the Wuchang City-wall began to be destroyed, and not only the whole city plan of Wuchang changed, but also the symbols of the Olds have to be disappeared.
Feng Shui in the West
While many classical books of Feng Shui and Philosophy are available to the public in general, in original language or translated, the individual interpretation and attempts to adapt it to the way westerners culturally live and think, has created many misconceptions and confusion.
References:
Needham, Joseph 1956: Science and Civilization in China, Vol 2
Feuchtwang, Stephen 1974: An Anthropological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy
Knapp, Ronald G, China’s Living House (1999)
Berglund, Lars, 1990: The Secrets of the Luo Shu
Comments