Feng shui is a form of traditional Chinese magic that remains a significant element in modern Asian culture. Adherents of this superstition employ a variety of manipulations to maintain "good" feng shui and to avoid "bad" feng shui. Even an elite metropolis like Hong Kong is not immune to the influence of feng shui practices in architecture, real estate, business, and government.
Feng shui is considered a form of geomancy. Although the literal translation of feng shui means "wind and water," the significance of four environmental elements: wind, water, light, and the earth's topography are involved. These elements interact with a building's design and structure, and affect its desirability.
Feng shui originated in ancient Chinese culture and has evolved into various versions, each complex. The practice of feng shui is an art and, although often compared with astrology, lacks a scientific basis or set procedures. Feng shui has also been compared to acupuncture, the practice of Chinese traditional medicine, in that acupuncture is concerned with the currents of vital energy in the human body whereas feng shui is concerned with the vital energy in the earth's landscape. This energy is said to take the form of a dragon's breath. Emmons (1992) cites his own and other surveys of Hong Kong residents that yield little beyond vague generalizations about the exact tenets of feng shui. So complex is this supersition that the common practice is to call upon the expertise of a feng shui geomancer.
Feng shui geomancers are highly paid, highly respected evaluators of the spiritual nature of properties or situations. According to Baen and Teoh (1992), "Decisions are based on a knowledge of traditional sciences, astronomy, street number (address), general shape of the land being planned, or land surveyed" (p. 18). So ingrained is the use of these experts, that a recent Asian edition of the Wall Street Journal featured an article d...