The pulse of Beijing: Fengshui Beijing has always been considered an ideal selection for the nation's capital according to Fengshui theories. It is a city surrounded by a series of mountains - the number one criterion for good Fengshui.

Where is your ideal home? When shown pictures of differing landscapes such as tropical forests, deserts, grasslands, or forests and asked to choose a place to live, most people, hailing from different cultures and ethnic groups, would choose the picture of grasslands, in East Africa. Some consider this as indirect proof that humans originated from Africa. The love of the land and the adaptation it required became encoded in our genes, so that whenever we are shown pictures of our original homeland, we identify with it.

Of course this is only theory, and speculative at best. But it seems that some people's choices of living environments are closely linked to where they came from. This idea of environment having a direct effect on the health and prosperity of those living in it is a common theme found in many cultures throughout the world. But has been raised to its highest form of practice by the Chinese, through Fengshui (pronounced feng shuway).

So what is the most ideal Fengshui for Chinese? According to Professor Yu Kongjian from Peking University who has been investigating the issue, the ideal Chinese home would be located in front of mountains, facing water, near a plain, hugged by hills on the left and right sides, and small hillocks in front, "bowing" to the house. This kind of location in Fengshui terminology is described as black dragon (qing long) on the left, white tiger (bai hu) on the right, red bird (zhu que) in the front, and tortoise (xuan wu) in the back. Each of these animals is a Taoist guardian for the four directions of east, west, south, and north. The most distinctive feature of the ideal living space for Chinese is the need to be surrounded by mountains.

This tendency to be hidden and enclosed, like the typical Beijing quadrangle households, a traditional, residential compound with houses around a courtyard, is opposite to that of the splendid and somewhat showy western castle style, which values the location of commanding height.

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