Here's an article by Tom Lee
Bland Crowder
presented at Yale in May. He also would like to hear from
anyone interested in feng shui. His E-mail address is:
Thomas Lee <tl...@oncomdis.on.ca>
The article:
"Greening to the Blue" conference
Yale Univerity, 4-5 May 1996
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KAN YU - THE BOOK OF CHANGE CONCEPT IN
ENVIRONMENTAL AND ARCHITECTURE
PLANNING
Thomas Lee May 1996
Architects always look forward to building a harmonious
environment. To
understand what make environment harmonious, we
need to have a good
sense of perception regarding both the natural
environment and the built
environment. To do that, we must unit ourselves with
the greater
wholeness around us.
Space is alive and each place will give clues as to why it
is better or
worst than another. This is common sense. However, it
also aligns
totally with the Chinese theory known as Kan Yu (Lee
1994). The Chinese
use Yin Yang theory from the Book of Change or Yi Jing
(I Ching) to
interpret our environment according to binary concept.
For example, the
mountain creates a shadow which is called Yin or
negative object. Water
provides nutrients for plants to grow which is called Yang
or positive
object. Mountain and water together are Yin and Yang.
Based on the Yin Yang theory, geographical or artificial
objects can be
subdivided into different classes for ease of
interpretation. Each
sub-class has its own unique identified terminology and
characteristics.
The interaction of negative and positive can be easily
interpreted in
this binary system by weighting the Yin and Yang
elements of the object
in each sub-class. For example, places without water
are too Yin and
need a Yang element like water to form the harmony of
Yin and Yang.
Kan Yu, commonly know as Feng Shui, is the theory of
time and geography
in Chinese culture. Feng Shui is a layman's term,
literally meaning Wind
and Water (Lip 1989). This term is misinterpreted not
only by most new
western practitioners of Feng Shui, but also by many
Chinese Feng Shui
masters. The degree of harmony in an individual place
is solely
dependent on the balance of Yin and Yang Qi (Ch'i) in
the theory. Qi is
an energy which brings good influence to the living
organisms within its
influence. Qi is, however, invisible and difficult to detect.
Historically, experts found that wind and water were the
easiest
indicators to track the Qi.
Basically, the Kan Yu experts were looking for the form
of the mountain
and the shape of the water body to detect the existence
and strength of
Qi. Since lay people thought the experts were mainly
looking at wind and
water, they called the theory "the Observation of Wind
and Water" or Feng
Shui. Sometimes, Feng Shui is also used as a
descriptive term to
categorize good and bad environments. To describe a
good environment,
people say : "It has good Feng Shui". Likewise, a bad
environment has
bad Feng Shui. Another important factor that is almost
always overlooked
in Kan Yu is time. Many Feng Shui practitioners do not
even know that
time is a factor. Time, however, is as important as Form
and Shape in
Kan Yu. Under Yin Yang theory, the environmental
influence of a place
will change over time.
The dynamic, or changing, nature of Qi must be taken
into account in
Kan Yu theory in computing the trend of future events.
When Qi is
balanced in unity, it is classified as Tai Ji (Tai Chi). The
most basic
classification of the the unity is the binary model Yin and
Yang. The
next stage of Qi classification breaks Yin and Yang into
Five Elements
(Water, Wood, Fire, and Metal plus Earth which is a
transition element of
the other four). The Five Elements can be sub-divided
into eight stable
and eight un-stable trigrams. Relationships between
these trigrams are
reflections of the natural growth and diminishment of Qi
over time.
Time, here, is neither an independent object nor a
measurement subject to
human interpretation. Time only exists in the changing
strength and
direction of Qi flow. In other words, if Qi is stable time
seems to
stand still. According of the Kan Yu theory of Qi, at a
given time we
will find a particaluar type of Qi flowing in a particular
direction.
The influence of this Qi will bring a specific trend to event
in that
time and place. The concepts of Tai Chi, Yin Yang, the
Five Elements and
the trigrams are foundemental in Chinese culture for
designing long
lasting buildings and cities. (Figure 1)
Figure 1. Five Elements, Yin Yang and Tai Ji.Kan Yu,
therefore, is the
Chinese theory of environmental and architectural
planning. The Chinese
royal family has kept this theory secret for thousands of
years until
recently, when it has become popular all over the world.
All the
architectural and town planning for the capital, and the
interior design
of the palace, was based on expert rules of Kan Yu
theory. Nowadays,
most of the applications are concentrated in building
design by Feng Shui
consultants or masters in Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Singapore, China, Korea,
Japan and the USA. In Hong Kong, the digital map
system even contains a
map layer call the Feng Shui layer in which the boundary
of sensitive
areas is delineated. No development is allowed in these
areas.
The architectural design of the Forbidden City in Beijing
(Peking) or the
entrance to the Hong Kong Bank in Hong Kong are
tailored according to Kan
Yu theory to bring good fortune to the people who live
there. Although
New York City and Yale University may not use this
concept in
architectural planning, the resulting Feng Shui pattern is
still good.
The Yin Qi from the good mountain form in New York
City and New Haven in
the north-east part of the city provides very good
protection against the
strong north wind of winter. The Yang Qi at the city
center, surrounded
by two bending rivers, complements the Yin Qi and
forms a harmonic Qi
environment called Tai Chi. According to Yi Jing, living
in Tai Chi is
the best environment for human beings. The
outstanding financial
performance of the New York stock market and the
academic achievements of
Yale University may be explained by Kan Yu theory.
In the modern computer world, the study and analysis of
Kan Yu will be
easier than it was in ancient Chinese. For example, the
visual
interpretation of mountain forms can be assisted by a
flight simulator in
the Remote Sensing System through the use of three-
dimensional digital
terrain models and color satellite imagery (Lee 1995a).
This can save a
lot of time hiking over hundred-mile mountain ranges to
determine the
undulation index. Moreover, the use of Geographic
Information Systems
(GIS) and Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) provides
precise digital measuring
of magnetic angles in very large areas through its
continuous digital
map library and through digital multiple-layer overlay
analysis. We can
merge GIS and RSS with the rules of Kan Yu using the
Expert System (Lee
1995b), so that the social and economic analysis of a
city can be tested
by Kan Yu expert rules. Correlation analysis can
provide a validation
check of the Kan Yu rules in the absence of modern
statistical proof.
This kind of Expert Spatial Decision Support System
(Lee 1991) is very
common in geographic and landscape analysis.
Kan Yu is an undiscovered theory in environmental
architecture. The
fundamental concepts behind it not only provide
interesting cultural
study in Chinese architecture. The tradition Chinese
philosophy is based
on integration; western science is based on differential.
If we can
merge Chinese integration with western differentiation,
we will have the
unity of Yin and Yang.
REFRENCES
Chiang, Michael (1988)
Review of the Article "Geomancy - Fitction or Fact?".
Asian Architect and
Contractor ; 18, 1, Jan 1988, p.34-35.
Craze, Richard (1994)
Feng shui for beginners. Hodder & Stoughton
Eitel, Ernest (1993)
Feng-shui : the science of sacred landscape in old
China / Ernest J.
Eitel ; with commentary by John Michell Tuscon :
Synergetic Press
Feuchtwang, Stephan (1992)
The imperial metaphor : popular religion in China /
Stephan Feuchtwang
London ; New York : Routledge
Graham, Angus Charles (1986)
Yin-yang and the nature of correlative thinking Institute of
East Asian
Philosophies
Gwee, Peter Kim Woon (1991)
Fengshui : the geomancy and economy of Singapore /
Peter Gwee Kim Woon
Singapore : Shinglee Publishers
Hasanbhai, Zoheir (1986)
Fire station and headquarters in TST East up to rank
Asian Architect and
Contractor ; 16, 11, Nov 1986, p.20-21
Lee and Hodgart (1991)
"Expert Spatial Decision Support System: A Case Study
of Hospital
Location-Allocation Analysis in the Lothian Region,
Scotland"
Proceedings, Second International conference on
Computer in Urban
Management, Volume Two, July 6-8-1991
Lee, Thomas (1994)
An introduction of Kan Yu (Feng Shui). CPGIS
Newsletter, Volume 2 Number
4, August 1994. The Association of Chinese
Professionals in Geographic
Information System (Aboard).
Lee, Thomas (1995a)
Flight Simulation on SPOT DEM, SPOT and GIS -
Seminar for users of
satellite imagery and geographic informaiton system in
Southeast Asia -
Singapore.
Lee, Thomas (1995b)
Temporal Location Theory. GeoInformatics'95. The
Association of Chinese
Professionals in Geographic Information System
(Aboard).
Lip, Evelyn (1989)
Feng shui : a layman's guide to Chinese geomancy
Heian International
Noble, Sara (1994)
Feng shui in Singapore / Sara Noble Singapore :
Graham Brash
Pennick, Nigel (1987)
Geomancy Century
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Geomancy, east & west Lincoln, NE : GPN
Radio Television Hong Kong (1987)
Feng shui Arts, superstition or science? RTHK
Samways, M. J. (1989)
Bioempathy and Feng Shui conservation Environ.
Conserv. 1989, vol. 16,
no. 4, pp.357-360
Walters, Derek (1989)
Chinese geomancy. Elenent Books
Waring, Philippa (1993)
The way of Feng Shui : harmony, health, wealth and
happiness / Philippa
Waring London : Souvenir Press
--
Thomas Lee
Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing
Consultant
Chartered Land and Hydrographic Surveyor
Kan Yu (Feng Shui) Specialist