Feng shui

Feng shui (“wind and water”) is a traditional Chinese practice for choosing and arranging sites for houses, temples, cities and graves so that they sit in harmony with the land and its unseen flow of energy, called qi. It is a belief system rather than a science, but for centuries it shaped what you see on the ground. The classic ideal is a site that faces south, sheltered by hills behind and on both sides, with water flowing in front; feng shui masters used a special compass, the luopan, to fine-tune directions. You can read it in the Ming Tombs, set in a valley ringed by mountains, in the south-facing Forbidden City with Jingshan hill behind it, and in old villages laid out around ponds and streams. Many people in China still consider feng shui when buying a flat, opening a shop or choosing a burial plot.