Feng Shui is a pseudoscience that deals with the control of invisible forces, called Chi,that govern our universe. Its goal is to 1 people with their surroundings.

Feng Shui is the soul of China's ancient architectural theories. One of the importantFeng Shui 2 in architecture is“leaning against mountains and facing waters.”Take Xi' an, the well- known ancient capital city, for example. One reason it was chosen by13 dynasties as their capital was because the site was surrounded by nine mountains and girdled by eight rivers. This was considered quite 3 .

Feng Shui stresses 4 in architecture. Many ancient Chinese constructions,including cities, palaces, residences, and tombs, are bilaterally symmetrical. The ForbiddenCity, the world's best- preserved imperial 5 , was built in a bilaterally symmetrical way. At its core was an 6 line, running through the palace in a south- north direction. Most constructions inside the palace were symmetrically arranged on either side of the axis.

Curves are also preferred in construction, for they 7 vitality. In China, many bridges are built with 8 ; corridors are winding, and man- made rivers are sinuous.Inside the mausoleum complex of Qing Dynasty emperors, small structures were often seen in front of large structures; south- north buildings were built in front of or behind east- west buildings. Hence, curves were formed.

In real life, it is difficult to select a site or 9 a building with perfect FengShui. Thus, the principle of modification is applied. Planting trees around buildings is a method of modifying the Feng Shui. Other modification practices include digging wells if there is not enough water, and digging canals if water 10 is blocked.