With a time-honored history, fengshui can be traced back to remote antiquity in China. In the primitive society, although there was no word for fengshui, people had to choose dwelling places that were suitable for humans to live in based on some basic principles like "easy water access" and "sunny exposure."

As humans entered the civilized society, the fengshui theory was written down. For instance, there were many records about house location divinations on the oracle inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BC). According to Shijing (Classic of Poetry) and the large amount of records on the oracle bones, by the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese had categorized landforms and water areas into many specific types very meticulously.

Shang Shu (Collection of Ancient Texts, whose compilation is generally attributed to Confucius) divides China into nine administrative regions, or jiuzhou, with the rivers and mountains as the natural boundaries. That is why jiuzhou is also used to refer to China.

In another classic book, Zhou Li, there were records about choosing the location of civil housing. In the Zhou Dynasty (11thcentury-221BC), Emperor Zhou Wuwang ordered his brother Zhou Gong (also known as the Duke of Zhou) to examine the site of the capital with his fengshui knowledge.

With the development and prevalence of Yijing and the yin-yang theory in the pre-Qin period, the fengshui theory became a kind of systematic academic thought. After Emperor Qin Shihuang united China, the qi or vital energy was integrated into the fengshui theory. Meanwhile, professional fengshui experts also appeared during the time.

The large-scale and magnificent Epang Palace and Qin Shihuang Mausoleum demonstrated the advanced measuring techniques and also the more developed fengshui theory, which focused on two issues at the time: choosing a suitable place for the living, and a resting place for the dead.

In the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD), the practice of choosing suitable places became even more popular. The people engaged in fengshui were also proficient in astronomy and geography. In the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), funerals were given more attention, which led to another upsurge of fengshui. People in the Eastern Han Dynasty also attached great importance on the living conditions, which contributed to the writing of the first batch of fengshui books.

A number of renowned fengshui masters appeared in the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420), among them the most reputed was Guo Pu, who set up a complete fengshui theory structure. Some of the basic principles first advocated by him are still in use today. Guo is usually considered the originator of Chinese fengshui theory.

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