Feng Shui is an ancient art. The term appears for the first time in a classic text "The Book of Burials" by Guo Pu (276-324 AD). However the term used to describe this art was until the early twentieth century, "Kanyu", which succinctly means observing the sky and observing the earth. Basically the history of Feng Shui can be written in three parts. The first part is as old as the man in the sense that he has always used discernment in regard to the places he chose to inhabit. When it began to erect permanent housing there were basic concerns such as aligning the southern, sunny facades in the cold parts of China. And it was not only the dwellings for the living that attracted interest, but especially the burial places and culture.
This first part also corresponds to the development of the principles of Chinese metaphysics (since Fu Hi - 3000 BC) and the two fundamental factors of Feng Shui, Form (Luan Tou) and Direction (Di Li) are already present. However, the application of philosophical principles was very limited by the impossibility of measuring accurately (directions were measured by a vertical stick stuck in the ground and measuring the shadow).
The great revolution and even the genesis of Classical Feng Shui itself can be said to occur with the appearance of the first compass, the luo pan, at some uncertain date perhaps somewhere in the Tang dynasty (eg 700 AD). It was at the end of the Tang Dynasty that the first Grand Master of this art, Yang Yung Sun, was awarded the creation of the Ring of the 72 Dragons. From early on, two distinct schools were developed, the San He (Three Harmonies) school, which gives great importance to the "Foreign Forms" and the San Yuan School (Three Periods) that has "Time" as the fundamental vector.
This first part also corresponds to the development of the principles of Chinese metaphysics (since Fu Hi - 3000 BC) and the two fundamental factors of Feng Shui, Form (Luan Tou) and Direction (Di Li) are already present. However, the application of philosophical principles was very limited by the impossibility of measuring accurately (directions were measured by a vertical stick stuck in the ground and measuring the shadow).
The great revolution and even the genesis of Classical Feng Shui itself can be said to occur with the appearance of the first compass, the luo pan, at some uncertain date perhaps somewhere in the Tang dynasty (eg 700 AD). It was at the end of the Tang Dynasty that the first Grand Master of this art, Yang Yung Sun, was awarded the creation of the Ring of the 72 Dragons. From early on, two distinct schools were developed, the San He (Three Harmonies) school, which gives great importance to the "Foreign Forms" and the San Yuan School (Three Periods) that has "Time" as the fundamental vector.
Classical Feng Shui has lived in a process of secrecy that lasts to this day. That is why it is practically impossible to make a precise history of calculations. However names such as Jiang Da Hong (1620-1714) who first mentioned the Xuan Kong system or Tan Yang Wu who established the first school in the first half of the twentieth century in Shanghai, are inescapable figures. During the establishment of the Maoist regime in China, Feng Shui is pursued and declared illegal, a ban that lasts until today. The masters emigrated to Chinese communities outside communist influence such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. The third part of the history of Feng Shui begins the 80's, with the appearance of contemporary Feng Shui. This modern form of Feng Shui was initiated by masters without a classical background, the first being Lin Yun, a Tibetan Buddhist monk from Taiwan who emigrated to California and created the Black Hat system. It is characterized by the fusion of cultures in the global village of our days and with roots more or less linked to the Chinese culture depending on the cases. This is a redefinition and extension of the original concept of Feng Shui.