"Feng-shui" has of late years grown to be such a common expression in
the mouths of foreigners resident in China that it stands no poor
chance of becoming gradually incorporated in the languages of more
than one nation of the West. And yet, in spite of Dr Eitel's little
hand-book, we may venture to assert that a very small percentage of
those who are constantly using this phrase really have a distinct and
correct idea as to the meaning of the words they employ. It is vaguely
known that Feng-shui is a powerful weapon in the hands of Chinese
officials whereby they successfully oppose all innovations which
savour of progress, and preserve unbroken that lethargic sleep in
which China has been wrapt for so many centuries: beyond this all is
mystery and doubt. Some say the natives themselves do not believe in
it; others declare they do; others again think that the masses have
faith, but that enlightened and educated Chinese scout the whole thing
as a bare-faced imposture. Most Chinamen will acknowledge they are
entirely ignorant themselves on the subject, though at the same time
they will take great pains to impress on their hearers that certain
friends, relatives, or acquaintances as the case may be, have devoted
much time and attention to this fascinating study and are downright
professors of the art. They will further express their conviction of
its infallibility, with certain limitations; and assert that there are
occasions in life, when to call in the assistance of Feng-shui is not
only advisable but indispensable to human happiness.
For those who will not be at the trouble of reading for themselves Dr
Eitel's valuable little book, we may explain that Feng is the Chinese
word for _wind_ and Shui for _water_; consequently, Feng-shui is
wind-water; the first half of which, _wind_, cannot be comprehended, the
latter half, _water_, cannot be grasped. It may be defined as a system
of geomancy, by the _science_ of which it is possible to determine the
desirability of sites whether of tombs, houses, or cities, from the
configuration of such natural objects as rivers, trees, and hills, and
to foretell with certainty the fortunes of any family, community, or
individual, according to the spot selected; by the _art_ of which it
is in the power of the geomancer to counteract evil influences by good
ones, to transform straight and noxious outlines into undulating and
propitious curves, rescue whole districts from the devastations of
flood or pestilence, and "scatter plenty o'er a smiling land" which
might otherwise have known the blight of poverty and the pangs of
want. To perform such miracles it is merely necessary to build pagodas
at certain spots and of the proper height, to pile up a heap of
stones, or round off the peak of some hill to which nature's rude hand
has imparted a square and inharmonious aspect. The scenery round any
spot required for building or burial purposes must be in accordance
with certain principles evolved from the brains of the imaginative
founders of the science. It is the business of the geomancer to
discover such sites, to say if a given locality is or is not all that
could be desired on this head, sometimes to correct errors which
ignorant quacks have committed, or rectify inaccuracies which have
escaped the notice even of the most celebrated among the fraternity.
There may be too many trees, so that some must be cut down; or there
may be too few, and it becomes necessary to plant more. Water-courses
may not flow in proper curves; hills may be too high, too low, and of
baleful shapes, or their relative positions one with another may be
radically bad. Any one of these causes may be sufficient in the eyes
of a disciple of Feng-shui to account for the sudden outbreak of a
plague, the gradual or rapid decay of a once flourishing town. The
Feng-shui of a house influences not only the pecuniary fortunes of its
inmates, but determines their general happiness and longevity. There
was a room in the British Legation at Peking in which two persons died
with no great interval of time between each event; and subsequently
one of the students lay there _in articulo mortis_ for many days. The
Chinese then pointed out that a tall chimney had been built opposite
the door leading into this room, thereby vitiating the Feng-shui, and
making the place uninhabitable by mortal man.
From the above most meagre sketch it is easy to understand that if the
natural or artificial configuration of surrounding objects is really
believed by the Chinese to influence the fortunes of a city, a family,
or an individual, they are only reasonably averse to the introduction
of such novelties as railways and telegraph poles, which must
inevitably sweep away their darling superstition--never to rise again.
And they _do_ believe; there can be no doubt of it in the mind of any
one who has taken the trouble to watch. The endless inconvenience a
Chinaman will suffer without a murmur rather than lay the bones of a
dear one in a spot unhallowed by the fiat of the geomancer; the sums
he will subscribe to build a protecting pagoda or destroy some harmful
combination; the pains he will be at to comply with well-known
principles in the construction and arrangement of his private
house--all prove that the iron of Feng-shui has entered into his soul,
and that the creed he has been suckled in is the very reverse of
outworn. The childlike faith of his early years gradually ripens into
a strong and vigorous belief against which ridicule is perhaps the
worst weapon that can possibly be used. Nothing less than years of
contact with foreign nations and deep draughts of that real science
which is even now stealing imperceptibly upon them, will bring the
Chinese to see that Feng-shui is a vain shadow, that it has played its
allotted part in the history of a great nation, and is now only fit to
be classed with such memories of by-gone glory as the supremacy of
China, the bow and arrow, the matchlock, and the junk.