life. It has been noticed that Feng-shui is closely associated with individual and group identity, confidence in life, social and political cooperation and competition, and group and national ideology (Marcel, 1922; Yang, 1970; Freedman, 1966; 1968; Feuchtwang, 1974; Bennett, 1978; Nemeth, 1978).
It has been argued that reality image in Chinese eyes may not be shared by Westerners (Freedman, 1966; Feutchwang, 1974), and that Feng-shui is "a form of knowledge, a way of conceiving and perceiving reality and a way of dealing with reality" for the Chinese people (Feuchtwang, 1974, p.14). This suggests that: (1) on the one hand, Feng-shui can only be understood through the role it plays in Chinese life, because it is beyond the judgment of the Westerners' values and theories; (2) on the other hand, Feng-shui model may reveal a part of reality that goes beyond Westerners' experience, so by its combination with Western models, it may lead us to a more comprehensive understanding of "reality" as it is.
Based on this conception, in this paper, I will analyze Feng-shui as a landscape design model, taking the hypo
thesis that it provides a way of place making and dwelling for the Chinese people, helps the Chinese people order the natural environment and society, facilitates the need for place identity, and finally enhances the mechanism of responsibility for places. Modern Western professionals may benefit from its unique models of understanding of processes and form in their making of places and attempts to a sustainable environment.
Since Feng-shui can hardly be paralleled by other single disciplines in term of its volume of manuals, although a complete manual has never been translated and published in English, I will basically refer only to the classics of Feng-shui in following discussion , including The Burial Book (Zang Shu, by Guo Pu from fourth century AD) and classics by Yang Yun-Song ( ninth century, AD.). These classics largely defined the "form school" (divination through landscape pattern), which is of more interest and more relevant (compared to the direction school of Feng-shui ) to landscape design. These are most often cited and have been partly translated. (For Chinese sources in libraries in Western countries see Fetchwang, 1974; Walts, 1989; Xu, 1989).
2. Feng-shui as A Design Model
In order to understand the Feng-shui model of design and place making systematically, a framework for inquiry that transcends different theories or models of design is required. The six-level framework of design processes suggested by Steinitz (1990) largely fulfills this need. His first three levels of design inquiry (representation model, process model and evaluation model) and second three levels of inquiry (change models, impact models, and decision models) contribute respectively to what McHarg called "a way of looking and a way of doing" (1969, p.1). It is argued here that the way of looking largely decides the way of doing. Thus my discussion will basically focus on the first three models:
2.1 Qi: The Process Model of Feng-shui
The process across landscape concerned in Feng-shui is the movement and change of Qi ( Ch'i, literally air, gas, breath, etc.). Qi is a philosophical category of Chinese origin, its full implications cannot be adequately described by any single English word--or even a series of words. Several similar (not identical) phrases have been suggested in Western literature, among them are "cosmic breath" (Wheatley, p.41
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