What is Feng Shui?

What Is Feng Shui?
As Asian culture becomes more popular in the United States, the ancient Chinese method of creating a harmonious environment, feng shui, is also gaining ground.

Wind and Water
Pronounced "fung shway," feng shui literally means "wind and water." Its roots are 5,000 years old.
Feng shui seeks to promote prosperity, good health, and general well being by examining how energy, qi, pronounced "chee," flows through a particular room, house, building, or garden.
Yin and Yang
Feng shui considers yin, feminine and passive energy, and yang, which is masculine and hot. It also looks at the five elements - water, fire, wood, metal, and earth, and the external environment.
The points on the compass, with eight separate directions - north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest - are also important.
A feng shui expert, known as a geomancer, will consult an individual's Chinese horoscope to figure out what is best for that person and use complicated mathematical calculations from the ancient I Ching, (Book of Changes), to determine what aspects of the house are out balance.
Flexible Applications
Feng shui can be used to decide the location, construction, and architectural features of buildings, the placement and style of furniture, colors and decorating schemes, and the location of plantings, paths, and other outside features. By creating a more pleasing atmosphere, feng shui has been credited with improving family communication, restoring employee cooperation, and increasing a store's sales.
The principles can be applied to any style of building or decorating, not just to Chinese or Asian modes.
A Royal Secret
When China was under imperial rule, feng shui was a secret, known only to a handful of astronomers and scientists commissioned with maintaining the health, wealth, and power of the court.
Imperial palaces and cities were planned according to feng shui, which became a principle of classical Chinese architecture. Beijing's Forbidden City is an example. A spectacular complex of palaces, administrative buildings, and temples arranged around a series of courtyards, the Forbidden City was the capital of China during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Commercial Feng Shui
But today, feng shui is available to everyone. Banks, hotels, houses, and even several new communities in Hong Kong have been planned according to feng shui. Many Chinese use feng shui to improve business. by http://www.beijingfeeling.com

Beijing Relligion

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The religious practices and folkways of people in Beijing are entirely based on the principle of freedom of worship,where Buddhism,Lamaism,Taoism,Islam,Roman Catholicism,and Protestantism are all prevailing at parity.Monasteries,Taoist temples,mosques,and churches are scattered in the city.Among all these institutions the best knownare Guanghuasi(Temploe of Universal Enlightenment),Guangjisi(Temple of Universal Alms),Yonghegong(Lama temple),Baiyunguan(the Taoist Temple of White Cloud),and the like.

Beijing Population

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The population of Beijing has grown rapidly since 1949.The Fivth nationalcensus carried out in 2003 found Beijing contains 13,820,400 population.Migrants,particularly seasonal laborers,have been on the rise since the opening policy was put into effect in 1978.At present,Beijing owns a floating poputation of about three million a year.With a huge population over 14 million today,Beijing has become the third largest city in China,next to Chongqing(30 million) and Shanghai(16 milllion)and remains one of the most densely populated cites in the world.

The composition of Beijing's population consists oAf 56 nationalities with the Han retaining about 96% of the whole and Muslims,Manchus,and Mongolians being next in sequence.As for the life expectancy,in general,permanent residents of Beijing have attained to the age of 74,about twenty years longer as compared to that of 1949.

A,so birth control was taken up after serious consideration by the government in 1978.Now,the family planning principle of 'one family,one child' has become a basic national policy.