50 Fun Facts About Feng Shui

What do the two words feng shui literally mean?

The idea was that landscapes and water direct the flow of qi through places and structures.

What is the name of the cosmic current or energy that feng shui seeks to direct?

More broadly the practice takes in astronomy, astrology, architecture and topography.

Feng shui is traditionally described as a form of what?

Historically it fixed the orientation of buildings, dwellings and tombs.

Which two Neolithic cultures give the earliest known evidence for feng shui?

Before the magnetic compass, feng shui relied on astronomy.

The doors of dwellings at which Neolithic village were aligned with the asterism Yingshi around 4000 BC?

The alignment, just after the winter solstice, sited the homes for solar gain.

Near which modern city is that Neolithic site of aligned doorways?

It was discovered in 1953 and belongs to the Yangshao culture.

According to the Zhouli, what may the original feng shui instrument have been?

The Chinese used circumpolar stars to fix the north–south axis of settlements.

What are the oldest known feng shui instruments, lacquered two-sided boards with sightlines, called?

Examples come from tombs dated between 278 BC and 209 BC.

What is the traditional feng shui compass called?

Its needle points to the south magnetic pole.

How many concentric rings of formulas can the feng shui compass carry?

The rotating plate is called the heaven dial and it sits on an earth plate.

Which Jin dynasty scholar wrote the Book of Burial, the first authoritative feng shui text?

He is often called the Father of Feng Shui in modern China.

Why was the Book of Burial's author executed in 324?

The warlord Wang Dun wanted backing for his planned usurpation.

What does the Book of Burial say burial takes advantage of?

Qing Wuzi's Book of the Tomb in the Han dynasty preceded it.

What are the five elements, or wuxing, of Chinese thought?

They are first mentioned in a chapter of the classic Book of History.

What was the original meaning of yin and yang?

Yin was the northerly shaded slope, yang the bright southerly aspect.

How many trigrams make up the bagua?

Each trigram has three lines, broken for yin or unbroken for yang.

Which two arrangements of the bagua are commonly encountered?

The Earlier Heaven order is named for the legendary Fuxi.

On what did the magic-square Lo Shu pattern appear, according to legend?

The turtle emerged from the Luo River bearing the numbers one to nine in a three-by-three grid.

Which celestial animal guards the east in Chinese cosmology?

The Vermilion Bird takes the south and the White Tiger the west.

Which mega-constellation marks the north and the winter solstice in the Yaodian?

Its marker stars are alpha and beta Aquarii.

Which fifth celestial animal joins the usual four in some feng shui schemes?

It joins the phoenix, dragon, tiger and turtle.

Which Zhou-era text codified the feng shui rules for laying out capital cities?

The carpenters' manual Lu ban jing did the same for builders.

Which imperial bureau employed feng shui specialists at its Ming and Qing peak?

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau also housed astronomers and calendar-makers.

Which artificial mound was placed north of the Forbidden City in line with feng shui convention?

The whole complex sits on a north–south axis.

How many Ming and Qing emperors lived in the Forbidden City?

It was the centre of power from 1420 to 1924.

How many rooms does the Forbidden City traditionally claim to have?

Experts have counted 8,886.

What are the two main branches of feng shui?

The Compass branch includes Flying Star and other techniques.

How long is a grand cycle of nine periods in Flying Star feng shui?

Each period lasts twenty years.

During the Cultural Revolution, feng shui was classed as one of what?

It remained popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where traditional culture was not suppressed.

In 2010s mainland China, what was the legal status of a feng shui consultancy business?

Crackdowns cited the promotion of feudalistic superstitions.

By how many degrees did Hong Kong Disneyland shift its main gate in 2005 for feng shui?

The park acknowledged feng shui as an important part of Chinese culture.

Which Hong Kong skyscraper is nicknamed the vertical knife by feng shui critics?

I. M. Pei designed it, and it opened in 1990.

What convention did the vertical knife tower uniquely bypass among Hong Kong's major buildings?

I. M. Pei modified the many X shapes after criticism.

Who designed the 1985 HSBC Building in Hong Kong, famous for its feng shui-friendly design?

A direct view of water is held to bring prosperity, since water is linked to wealth.

What are the two bronze lions outside HSBC in Hong Kong called?

They were named after two 1920s bank managers; one roars and one rests.

Which Jesuit may have been the first European to describe feng shui masters and their underground dragons?

He wrote of geologi studying sites with reference to the head, tail and feet of dragons.

Which American magicians devoted an episode of Bullshit! to criticising feng shui?

Psychologist Stuart Vyse called feng shui a very popular superstition.

Which property tycoon is cited as paying feng shui masters to say which way his doors should hang?

Critic Robert Carroll used him as an example of feng shui becoming Western interior decorating.

Which cheap items are hung in doorways to deflect negative energy in popular feng shui?

Wealthier clients pay consultants large sums instead.

A single inward-swinging exit at which Quezon City nightclub, chosen for feng shui, was blamed for trapping fire victims?

Inward-opening doors were believed to bring in money.

Which rebellion saw feng shui used to justify attacks on missionaries and colonial infrastructure?

Qing crackdowns on heterodoxy had failed to suppress the decentralised practice.

What did southern Chinese villages sited by feng shui typically avoid, according to the article?

Graves went on the highest hills, on otherwise unvaluable farmland.

Whose 1972 visit to China is credited with popularising feng shui in the United States?

In the West it has often been reduced to interior design for health and wealth, sold by consultants charging large sums.

The oldest known feng shui instruments come from tombs dated to roughly which period?

These liuren astrolabes charted the pole star through the nine palaces, and their markings are nearly identical to the first magnetic compasses.

Which way does the needle of a luopan point?

The Chinese word for compass, zhinanzhen, literally means 'south-pointing needle'.

The San He luopan is said to have been used as early as which dynasty?

It carries three basic 24-direction rings, each tied to a different method and formula.

According to legend, which primordial being first identified the eight trigrams of the bagua?

That is why the Earlier Heaven arrangement is also called the Fuxi bagua, while the Later Heaven order is credited to King Wen.

How many hexagrams are formed by stacking two bagua trigrams, making up the body of the I Ching?

Diviners elicit an answer by throwing yarrow stalks, tossing coins or even reading cracks and entrails.

Which Han dynasty writer described the Form branch in the Book of the Tomb, before Guo Pu's Book of Burial?

Form is the oldest branch of feng shui; the Compass branch, with Flying Star and Eight Mansions, came later.

In which modern province was Guo Pu, author of the Book of Burial, born?

A native of Wenxi County, he studied Daoist occultism in his youth and worked as a prognosticator for local officials.