User:RedHuron/Feng shui

Feng shui (/ˈfʌŋˌʃuːi/ ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is an ancient Chinese traditional practice which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water" (i.e. fluid). From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal Qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures. More broadly, feng shui includes astronomical, astrological, architectural, cosmological, geographical and topographical dimensions.

Historically, as well as in many parts of the contemporary Chinese world, feng shui was used to orient buildings and spiritually significant structures such as tombs, as well as dwellings and other structures. One scholar writes that in contemporary Western societies, however, "feng shui tends to be reduced to interior design for health and wealth. It has become increasingly visible through 'feng shui consultants' and corporate architects who charge large sums of money for their analysis, advice and design." In the wake of the climate crisis, feng shui is being taken into academic consideration for possible contributions to ecological philosophy.

There has been intense debate on feng shui’s existence as a science or superstition. Much of modern Western research on the topic has an absolutist bias in its interpretations of feng shui. Depending on the researcher, feng shui could be considered in a variety of ways. Some scientists and philosophers have identified feng shui as both non-scientific and pseudoscientific and have described it as a paradigmatic example of pseudoscience. It exhibits a number of classic pseudoscientific aspects, such as making claims about the functioning of the world which are not amenable to testing with the scientific method. Other figures take a more functionalist interpretation of feng shui, noting its practical uses as a tool for rural development, social mobilization, and conflict resolution. Due to major historical changes and geographic variations, there is currently a lack of professional consenus on the classification of feng shui.

Origins[edit]
The Yangshao and Hongshan cultures provide the earliest known evidence for the use of feng shui. Until the invention of the magnetic compass, feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe. In 4000 BC, the doors of dwellings in Banpo were aligned with the asterism Yingshi just after the winter solstice—this sited the homes for solar gain. During the Zhou era, Yingshi was known as Ding and it was used to indicate the appropriate time to build a capital city, according to the Shijing. The late Yangshao site at Dadiwan (c. 3500–3000 BC) includes a palace-like building (F901) at its center. The building faces south and borders a large plaza. It stands on a north–south axis with another building that apparently housed communal activities. Regional communities may have used the complex.

A grave at Puyang (around 4000 BC) that contains mosaics— a Chinese star map of the Dragon and Tiger asterisms and Beidou (the Big Dipper, Ladle or Bushel)— is oriented along a north–south axis. The presence of both round and square shapes in the Puyang tomb, at Hongshan ceremonial centers and at the late Longshan settlement at Lutaigang, suggests that gaitian cosmography (heaven-round, earth-square) existed in Chinese society long before it appeared in the Zhoubi Suanjing.

Cosmography that bears a resemblance to modern feng shui devices and formulas appears on a piece of jade unearthed at Hanshan and dated around 3000 BC. Archaeologist Li Xueqin links the design to the liuren astrolabe, zhinan zhen and luopan.

Beginning with palatial structures at Erlitou, all capital cities of China followed rules of feng shui for their design and layout. During the Zhou era, the Kaogong ji (Chinese: 考工記; "Manual of Crafts") codified these rules. The carpenter's manual Lu ban jing (魯班經; "Lu ban's manuscript") codified rules for builders. Graves and tombs also followed rules of feng shui from Puyang to Mawangdui and beyond. From the earliest records, the structures of the graves and dwellings seem to have followed the same rules.[citation needed]

=== During the Western Zhou dynasty, elements of feng shui played a large role in the development of the state bureaucracy with it being used to develop the Longmen Zhang and Tian Di He Zhang methods of bookkeeping. The Longmen Zhang method in particular would express gaitian cosmography in its formatting. ===

Early instruments and techniques[edit]
A feng shui spiral at Chinatown station (Los Angeles Metro)

Some of the foundations of feng shui go back more than 3,500 years before the invention of the magnetic compass. It originated in Chinese astronomy. Some current techniques can be traced to Neolithic China, while others were added later (most notably the Han dynasty, the Tang, the Song, and the Ming).

The astronomical history of feng shui is evident in the development of instruments and techniques. According to the Zhouli, the original feng shui instrument may have been a gnomon. Chinese used circumpolar 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 of the cases, as Paul Wheatley observed, 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. Rituals for using a feng shui instrument required a diviner to examine current sky phenomena to set the device and adjust their position in relation to the device.

The oldest examples of instruments used for feng shui are liuren astrolabes, also known as shi. These consist of a lacquered, two-sided board with astronomical sightlines. The earliest examples of liuren astrolabes have been unearthed from tombs that date between 278 BC and 209 BC. Along with divination for Da Liu Ren the boards were commonly used to chart the motion of Taiyi through the nine palaces. The markings on a liuren/shi and the first magnetic compasses are virtually identical.

The magnetic compass was invented for feng shui and has been in use since its invention. Traditional feng shui instrumentation consists of the Luopan or the earlier south-pointing spoon (指南針 zhinan zhen)—though a conventional compass could suffice if one understood the differences. A feng shui ruler (a later invention) may also be employed.[citation needed]

Later History
After the Song dynasty, divination began to decline as a political political institution. To make up for this loss, divination became an increasingly private affair opening up to the public market where it grew in popularity. This was key to expanding the reach of feng shui to the public sector.

It was during the Late Qing dynasty that feng shui saw itself rise to immense popularity, however. While the Qing dynasty attempted to crack down on heterodoxy following the White Lotus Rebellion and Taiping Revolt, feng shui was difficult to suppress amongst certain popular and elite circles. During this period, its growth was primarily driven by popular consumption, widespread destitution, and increasing government despotism.

Under China's Century of Humiliation, feng shui was implicitly encouraged as a method of colonial resistance. Through the militarization of the countryside, the local gentry had used feng shui to justify and promote popular attacks against missionaries and colonial infrastructure. This allowed local elites and government officials to bypass foreign extraterritoriality and maintain local sovereignty. Because of the cultural aspects of feng shui, the practice increasingly became a powerful demarcator between foreign and Chinese identities.

Following the rise of Communist China, religion and cosmology were suppressed more than ever before in the name of ideological. Only the most decentralized heterodoxies that could not threaten the status quo could survive during this period. As a result, feng shui become one of the only alternative forms of thought within the Chinese countryside. During this period, feng shui experts would remain highly sought after despite numerous campaigns against rural superstition.

It was only after the China's Reform and Opening-Up that feng shui would see a complete resurgence. As economic liberalization promoted social competition and individualism, feng shui was able to find new footing due to its focus on individualism and justification of social differences.

Definition and classification
At its core, feng shui views good and bad fortune as tangible elements that can be managed through predictable and consistent means. This often involves the proper management of qi, the universal cosmismic current. In situating the local environment to maximize good qi, one can optimize their own success and good fortune. '''Feng shui holds that one's external environment can affect one's internal state. In this manner,''' the "perfect spot" is often a location and an axis in time that can help one achieve a state of shu fu (舒服) or comfort with the universe.

Traditional feng shui is inherently a form of ancestor worship. Popular in farming communities for centuries, it was built on the idea that the ghosts of ancestors and other independent, intangible forces, both personal and impersonal, affected the material world, and that these forces needed to be placated through rites and suitable burial places. For a fee, a Feng shui practitioner could properly site locations for the living and the dead to achieve shu fu. This is thought to maximize good fortune and bring material success for the living.

Feng Shui is a very diverse series of practices that vary across history and regions. In order to explain fortunes that have resulted in spite of good or bad siting, feng shui has developed separate exoteric and esoteric meanings. This has made an exact definition difficult to achieve by consensus.

According to Stuart Vyse, feng shui is "a very popular superstition." The PRC government has also labeled it as superstitious. Feng shui is classified as a pseudoscience since it exhibits a number of classic pseudoscientific aspects such as making claims about the functioning of the world which are not amenable to testing with the scientific method. It has been identified as both non-scientific and pseudoscientific by scientists and philosophers, and has been described as a paradigmatic example of pseudoscience.

For some anthropologists, feng shui takes on a more functionalist interpretation. Noted for its practical uses in village development, social mobilization, and conflict resolution, feng shui is seen as playing an important role in the unity and solidarity of village life. Because of its great regional diversity, feng shui has also been interpreted as a tradition. Acting as an identifying framework, feng shui has been observed to act as an expression of local identity. Anthropologists in the field have noted feng shui's role as a polarizing force dividing various Chinese ethnicities.

Environmental Management
Traditional feng shui was a system designed to aid rural villages from the effects of weather and natural disaster. As a set of consistent rules, feng shui can facilitate collective consensus on development without the need of centralized leadership. Understanding that one's actions could damage the feng shui and fortunes of the entire village, individuals were incentivized to know these rules and carefully manage the development of their land and resources. This served to prevent the Tragedy of the Commons. When conflict did erupt during development, feng shui experts played an important role in balancing interests and enforcing orderly development.

Different branches of feng shui were developed and embraced in response to differing local geographies. In southern China, this often resulted in villages located on high hills safe from flooding and erosion, with pooling streams that allow for easy irrigation and drainage, fields downstream fertilized by sewage, and graves located on the highest hills far from water and on otherwise unvaluable farmland. To this degree, feng shui could help communities manage their spaces to match their physical, environmental, and aesthetic needs.

Conflict Resolution
'''A core aspect of feng shui has been its understanding of polarity. As opposed to western dualism, in which concepts are completely oppositional and irreconcilable, Chinese polarity sees opposing concepts as constantly changing and inseparable. The result is an emphasis on continual compromise and balance in order to maintain harmony. '''

Feng shui has been observed to play an important role in the mediation of conflict. Through its amoral explanation of differential fortunes, feng shui provides a universal set of cosmic rules communities seek to abide by. This can promote community unity while also creating numerous points of polarization. Through the hiring of feng shui experts, disputes between villagers can be peaceably resolved without losing face. In addition, these impersonal cosmic rules help regulate local jealousies over wealth and prestige.

Community Mobilization and Political Protest
'''As early as the Tang dynasty, the Chinese state recognized the disruptive power popular expressions of feng shui had over government authority. At the community level, feng shui could play an important role in community mobilization and political protest. By elevating a cosmological explanations of events, feng shui allowed for the expression of otherwise impermissible political opinions. '''

'''During the Boxer Rebellion, feng shui was used to justify attacks on western missionaries and colonial infrastructure. Under the perceptions of these infrastructural projects and groups were generating bad feng shui, rebels were able to incite their local communities into revolt against foreign influence. '''

'''To a more civil degree, feng shui could facilitate community negotiation. During the development of the Shek Pik Resevoir, feng shui was used to rally the community against the resevoir and hinder construction. It was only after months of difficult negotiations that guaranteed of local oversight, compensation, and resettlement could construction go smoothly. For many communities, feng shui is a method to extract proper deference and compensation for government actions.'''

Expression of Identity
'''Feng shui has been described as an egocentric tradition. Because of the nature of fortune, one person's gain comes at another's expense. Thus when compared to the more collectivist traditions of Confucianism, feng shui promotes social competition and the atomization of the family structure. This differentiation has been particularly expressed through excellent siting and the building of bigger homes that can change the local balance of feng shui. '''

'''Feng shui also helps promote ethnic differentiation. In Southern China, different folk traditions and beliefs guide differing interpretations of feng shui. Through conflicts over burial sites, these contrasting interpretations of feng shui act as an important medium to settle interethnic disputes and define local dynamics. '''