What is Feng Shui?

Feng Shui is the art of making adjustments to our surrounding to harmonize with our environment to bring about prosperity, good fortune, harmony and beneficial changes in our life. Feng shui, as a practical philosophy, exists long before the Chinese learn to write and its history stretches over 3000 years.

Qi, or Chi

In Chinese philosophy, Qi is the name of the vital energy that flows across the universe. Feng Shui teaches us how to maximize exposure to good qi and mimimize exposure to bad qi. Good qi is supportive and nourishing while bad qi is harmful and disruptive.

Literally, "feng" means "wind" and "shui" means "water" in Chinese. According to the Book of Burial written by Guo Pu during the Jin Dynasty, qi is dispersed when it rides the wind but stops when it meets water. For this reason, the ancient Chinese practice of collecting and retaining qi came to be known as Feng Shui.

Schools of Feng Shui

Over the course of many centuries of development, many different schools of the Feng Shui art have sprouted all over China. Beginning from the Song Dynasty, Feng Shui began to split into two major schools - the Form School or Luan Tou Pai (Mountain Top school), and the Compass School or Li-qi Pai (Qi Management School).

Form School

Form schools are much older than compass schools. Form school feng shui practitioners are more concerned with the basic elements of the land topography. A well known form-based feng shui school is the “Luan Tou Pai” or “Mountain Top” School.

Compass School

Compass school feng shui practitioners are experts in directing and retaining qi energy flows within a dwelling. One of the most popular compass-based schools in Hong Kong and in various parts of Southeast Asia is called the Eight Mansions school and it is very flexible and easy to apply.