Feng-Shui: The Science of Sacred Landscape in Old China

The reissue of this book, first published in 1873, is no indulgence in curiosities. Feng-shui is the science of sacred landscape as known in Old Chinese traditions but, as John Mitchell points our in his commentary, it addresses some of the same problems that concern us today in town planning and the development of sites. John Mitchell is an English investigator of landscape, both ancient and modern, and his Introduction makes the necessary links between China and the west and between past and present. A sacred landscape is one which transcends both nature and function, giving shape to the capacity for experience which human beings may enjoy. The master of feng-shui takes a given site and `develops' it - but in a way hardly known today. By selection and precise manipulation, he brings out characteristics which otherwise would remain latent. Feng-shui is a method of synergy, combining the best elements in a situation, finding the best locations for additional structures and creating something new in a balanced, harmonious way. It is a method of design and management from which there are lessons to be learned. Here is a chance to find a new perspective on the urgent problems of landscape in the contemporary world and to make contact with Chinese thought and cultural tradition.