Foreigners have typically wrong perception about China. One is, Chinese all knows some Kongfu, and the other is, people in China all believe in Fengshui. I don’t believe in Fengshui, until recently.
Let me tell you the story.
A Glass Cup of Water on the Left Hand
I read a Fengshui book about where you should put your water glass. They suggest that according to Fengshui theory, you should keep a glass of water on the left hand on the desk, and always keeps above 60% of water in the glass.
The rational behind it is, the left side is the position for black dragon, and right side is for white tiger. Since dragon likes water, so put a glass of pure water at the position of dragon keeps the dragon happy, so it is good for your health.
Hmm… Pretty non-sense, isn’t it?
The Result of Testing
Then I tried to put the water of glass on the left hand, and keeps it 60% of water. The magic does happen in several days.
I found I obviously drink much more water than before. Whenever I put my attention onto the glass cup, the water is gone. It is not consciously that I reached out to the water. When I reply an email, or read a report, I drink the water, even without my explicit awareness. When I see the glass cup empty, my conscious told me “Hey! Fill it. It is more important than your work – the dragon is looking” – obviously I said it to myself in a joking tune.
Fengshui = Convenience + Time
Then I realized, there must be some reason behind many Fengshui practice. It is by no means the mysterious theory it pretend to be (just like the dragon stuff in this example), it is all about convenience.
Fengshui seldomly discuss about the topic making something accessible or not to. It is all about how easy something is accessible. Just because of The Power of Convenience, convenience makes it so easy to accumulate over time, and with enough time, even smallest change can make big impact, just like one or two years of drinking enough water may make a difference in my health, although most people don’t know the root cause, and attribute the change to the bless of dragon.
Office Fengshui
Now I am a practitioner of Office Fengshui. Fengshui is talking about Ch’i. Actually, the Ch’i, in my understand, is communication. The move of stuff in the office cause the flow of communication changes – the communication between you and the world, and between the team members. Putting a tree to block a path, causing everyone to go the other way, and changes how people interact with each other. These are all called Fengshui.
The glass cup and water story is a very simple one that I can understand, but many Fengshui principles are hard to understand, or even no way to understand today. Hope more mysterious Fengshui theory gets some backup of modern science theory, and prove by scientific methods.
Not all foreigners think Chinese know kung fu nor chinese believe in Fung shui. I am definitely not that particular foreigner. Btw, I am a oversea chinese. And there are alot of chinese over the world do have liking for kung fu, and some believe in fung shui. To me, fung shui must base on logic and not on superstition.
It’s good to have water in the house so as not to be so dry. But be sure not to breed mosquitoes !
And not all Chinese drink tea, smoke nor drink, right ? And not all chinese have religion or spit, right ?
I mean China Chinese.
Sorry, I am back to add this..
Most chinese in the world.. in general, are smart and business minded.
And they don’t like to create trouble. And t are trying to survive and
to make ends meet. You know, to find a way to earn a living.
And every part of the the world, there is a chinese village or a place call
China Town. And every year, there is a world beauty pagent, call Miss China Doll.
However, it’s is also the chinese who are the profesional in con-man-ship, and trading
illegally or decently.
There is also a perception by most oversea chinese that the China chinese like to con people when
doing business. But I think the younger generation chinese now are different.. more friendly
and open minded.
Any Fengshui primer recomendation?
I just came cross your blog and became very fascinated. The site is simple and informational enough, thank you for sharing!
it is interesting, until reading this article, i know little about Fengshui, and do not believe it, now i think it has some principles. expecting you share more experiences about Fengshui.
It seems you are learning fast. This post, however, is a nice one, helping many people to know about Fengshui.
But, in sometimes, we need fengshui, although we donot know why. For example, two years ago, when I have been in Wuhan, the income of local botanical garden become higher when they repaired their gate following the direction of fengshui.
If you are left-handed, would the left handside water cup still work? ;-)
Jianshuo, I appreciated this point when we discussed it. 60% full is good because then you are not afraid of it getting spilled. Left hand side insures it doesn’t get mixed up with papers, the computer mouse, etc. I am already drinking more water.
I also liked your point about convenience, and your brother’s point: “If you put a book into your restroom, you may become an expert of the area after a year.”
I have been thinking about this point in combination with your point about accumulation over time.
I am not sure how it will affect my decisions and actions but I am contemplating these thoughts right now.
Best, Elliott
hehe..good articale
Not all people are convinced with Fengshui. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of where a person is comfortable.
Very interesting story !Perfect just what I was looking for! “If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor.”Thanks for the post.