selection of a building site, the design of the building, its
construction, and the decorations both inside and outside.
In contrast to Western architecture, which represented hu-
man conquest over the environment and separated the envi-
ronment from human spaces, Chinese architecture stressed
living in harmony with the heavens and the earth. Not only
were individual buildings planned according to the princi-
ples of feng shui, but entire cities were laid out according to
these principles as well.
Th e process began with a feng shui practitioner, a kind of
diviner, who selected the most favorable site for a building or
burial site. Th e diviner would apply principles from a number
of diff erent systems of thought. One of the most prominent
systems included the concept of yin and yang, essentially op-
posing masculine and feminine principles. Another was called
wu xing, a complex system of thought that saw nature as a se-
ries of cycles in which the fi ve elements of nature existed in
harmony with one another—water in winter, wood in spring,
fi re in summer, and metal in the fall, with earth dominating
the transitional periods between these seasons. Finally, bagua,
another highly complex system of thought, focused on changes
in the natural cycle over time. Bagua (pronounced “ba-gwa”)
helped the feng shui practitioner identify the nine areas of a
home or building that corresponded with prosperity, fame and
reputation, relationships, family, health, creativity and chil-
dren, skills and knowledge, career, and helpful people.
Th e diviner would then try to achieve the most favorable
chi (pronounced “chee”). Once again, the concept is diffi cult
for westerners to grasp. In the Western scientifi c view of na-
ture, at least until the fi ndings of 20th-century physics, matter
and energy were generally thought of as two diff erent things.
In Chinese thought they are considered in many respects the
same. While the word chi is usually translated as “energy,” it
also refers to the notion of matter on the verge of becoming
energy and energy on the verge of materializing. Th e concept
of chi was used in ancient Chinese medicine to refer to the
vital life forces of the body. More generally, it referred to the
most basic element of the physical world.
Ancient Chinese architects applied the same principles
to construction that ancient Chinese healers applied to the
body. Th e goal was to site a building in a way that achieved
the most harmonious chi while avoiding evil chi. Th e diviner
would focus on fi ve fundamental elements of the physical
world: long (d ra gon), xue (c ave), sha (sa nd), shui (water), and
xiang (orientation, in the sense of which direction something
faces). Th ese elements are self-explanatory except for “drag-
on,” which in ancient China was regarded as one of Twelve
Symbols of Sovereignty. In this sense, the dragon symbolized
the natural world and its ability to transform and adapt. Two
dragons together but facing opposite directions were symbol-
ic of yin and yang. Th e dragon was also a sign of royalty and
thus of power.
To make a structure harmonize with nature, it was be-
lieved that the best way to orient it was facing southward to-
ward a river or lake with a hill at its back to the north. In one
major respect, this orientation had a practical function, for it
shielded the structure from cold north winds. In laying out
a city, a major goal was to locate the city’s central axis, oft en
using mountain peaks to create a line that gave the city har-
mony and balance.
Th ree specifi c principles therefore dominated the form
of ancient Chinese architecture. Th e fi rst was that a building
was to be symmetrical and balanced, in the same way that
chi represented symmetry and balance in nature and in the
human body. Th is meant that if a building were divided in
half along a central axis, the two parts would be mirror im-
ages of each other. Th e second principle was that roofs were
to be held in place by columns rather than walls. Th is allowed
builders to incorporate a greater view of the landscape; the
view from inside was not blocked by solid walls that enclosed
the space and separated it from nature, and a more natural
fl ow of energy from outside to inside could be maintained.
Finally, the roofs themselves were to be curved rather
than straight. Th is principle refl ected the ancient Chinese be-
l i e f t h a t c u r v e s r e p e l l e d e v i l s p i r i t s , w h i l e fl at roofs allowed evil
spirits to enter the building. Th is principle explains why mostPanoramic view of West Lake in Lin'an (modern Hangzhou), China, showing the curved roof feature thought to guard against evil spirits (Freer
Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Gift of Charles Lang Freer)
66 architecture: Asia and the Pacific