About Feng Shui

With this article I applied at About.com to become a guide about Feng Shui. As I never got a reply and I am not going to be a Feng Shui guide soon, I am sharing here my research:


About Feng Shui

Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of arranging elements in your environment to improve your health, happiness and prosperity.

The roots of Feng Shui (literally 'wind' and 'water') dates back about five thousand years when the first nomads settled down in the south of today’s People's Republic of China (PRC). These farmers learned that the location and timing of sowings is essential to yield a large crop. They developed this knowledge about nature and applied it on other things in life such as the layout of dwellings and graves. Later, all capital cities of China including the imperial palaces followed rules of Feng Shui for their design and layout.

Feng Shui became a science used by the rich and powerful. During the communist revolution the practice of it was officially forbidden in the PRC. Although it is no longer forbidden today, Feng Shui is less common in the PRC as it is often thought of as "feudalistic superstitious practice". However, in other Asian countries, especially Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia it has been widely spread.

Over many centuries different schools of Feng Shui have developed. Each school has a slightly different approach to the subject, although the basic principles are the same.

The classical Chinese Feng Shui focuses on the landscape contours and the auspicious positioning of buildings. This Feng Shui school is also called the Form School and is mainly used in Asia in architecture to construct buildings with good Feng Shui to ensure success and prosperity to its residents - including companies and hotels.

The two most popular forms of Feng Shui in the West are the Compass School and the Black Hat Sect, founded in California 1986 - or a combination of both. This western Feng Shui is more adapted to modern daily life. It helps decorating private homes or office space in a way to improve health and happiness. To achieve these targets different methods and tools are in use by different schools.

Many books on Feng Shui are published. Much information is provided on the internet. Anyone can start to make changes in their home or office. But most important is to follow your own intuition to improve your life.

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Update: About.com wrote me later that they already have found a guide to Feng Shui. Her name is Rodika Tchi and she is a real expert.