A Note on Feng-Shui

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

This from Gardner's ART THROUGH THE AGES, 10 ed.(Harcourt-Brace, pp. 519-
520, V. 1):
Speaking of a "typcial Chinese temple precinct"--
"In conformity with the Chinese belief in *fengshui* ('wind and water'),k
the breath of life, which is scattered by wind, must be stopped by water;
thus the forces of wind and water must be adjusted in the orientation of
buildings.  In the layout of building complexes, the conservation of
breath is expressed in the seclusion of the units and spaces of the 
enclosure.  The plans are uniformly symmetrical, the building facing each
other on either side of a central axis, which functions as a path and 
visual perspective through gateways, towers, halls, and courtyards
in a sequence of primarily rectilinear units.  The unchanging 
qualities of symmetry, regularity, uniformity, and secludedness in the layout,
not only of halls and temple comlexes but of whole cities, express powerfully
the Chyinese respect for tradition and order, and the enduring influence
of the philosophy of Confucius."

[My own guess is that the principles are actually--as in so many things
Chinese--a blend of Confucian and Taoist principles, often taken to be
at odds with one another, but in good Taoist fashion actually work at
complements.]


Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)