As an Asian female, I’m surrounded by many beliefs and traditions that make my culture great. For example, FengShui is a big part of Chinese culture, which is a science base on old Chinese experience. However, I did not know that if I changed the direction of my bed that I can become rich instantly. Feng shui has been a major part of my family’s interior design but it’s always confused me.

Chinese feng shui is also known as the study of the living environment. It originated in the primitive period, matured in the Han and Tang Dynasties, and prospered during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Feng Shui is a valuable experience accumulated by human beings in long-term residential practice. Facing the sun, avoiding the wind, the fire, the proximity to the water and travel have become the most basic theory of residence. For thousands of years or even tens of thousands of years, people have constantly summarized the advantages and disadvantages of the living environment. In the Han and Tang Dynasties, a very mature and systematic Chinese Feng Shui theory was formed.

Is there any use of feng shui? In general, Feng Shui is the type of thing that a type of science that summarized by experiences. So why do some people find it useful and some people don’t? For example, if you want to decorate your room, you want to decorate it according to Feng Shui. Then Feng Shui said that it is best to choose some of the rising sun and the peony bloom.

Some melancholy pictures, such as those on the lakeshore, will have to be taken out. must be admitted that choosing some artworks with positive energy will be more enjoyable than the paintings that look sad and negative. Feng Shui also said that the top of the bed should not be the location of the bathroom or washing machine.

The bedroom should also be avoided at the end of the walkway. If you think about it or if the washing machine is just above your bed or at the end of the walkway which is close to the road, it can cause symptoms such as poor sleep.

This remained me about a story when I was young that when winter comes, I will always be scared by the “monster” that has lost all of the leaves, which is the tree that just right in front of my window. Later, my grandmother said that the tree could not be planted at the door and asked to cut the tree off. Later, I realized that the reason why cut the tree off is not just for me, is also for FengShui. First, when the tree grows big enough, and when is windy and rainy, the tree might trip and might be broken, there may be resulting in casualties of family members. Second, the leaves will drop, which will need more cleaning as well. Therefore, Feng Shui is a kind of “science.”

Then why do some people think that Feng Shui is metaphysics? Many people think that feng shui is like a tranquilizer. feels better after following Feng Shui, instead of really doing something. Therefore people think that way It is also because feng shui does not have specific data and evidence to prove that it is true. Feng Shui, like traditional Chinese medicine, is a set of theories that the ancients used to summarize their life experiences based on observations of actual conditions because it is based on observation.

Therefore, there is certain feasibility, but the ancients did not have a scientific concept. This theoretical system itself is not rigorous and cannot be proved. But think back to where when people started to question FengShui, the only reason they disagree with FengShui is that FengShui is different from the science today, that it didn’t have a data or a graph to prove it is right, but it still has real-life expresses to prove that it somehow has to do with science. FengShui is collecting data in different ways.

As a Chinese, the adults around me always talk to me about Feng Shui when I try to decorate my room. This often makes me feel puzzled, but when I went to understand Feng Shui carefully, I discovered that Feng Shui is an intangible cultural heritage. It is a kind of advice accumulated by the ancients based on the usual experience.

<Angela Chen/ Portola HS 10th>