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Day 1 - Ancestry Feng Shui Key
Last update: 15th April 2008 2:38pm (GMT+08:00)
Reported by Sherwin Ng.
12th April 2008 (Saturday)
Our first destination was Li Keng, the Lee Ancestral Village at Wu Yuan.
The bus ride took over an hour, and we were greeted by a Military Arts mountain star at the gates. Something’s up, but I shall get back to this. The main village is another 5 minutes cart ride from the main gate.
Stepping into Lee Village, any Feng Shui student can see why it is still famous till today - a gentle curvy river runs thru the town and at the top of the river sits a Greedy Wolf mountain. Now, we know that mountains release Qi and Qi flows along the lines of water. So the next question is: which house along the river would benefit the most? Three houses were selected by Joey for the purpose of today’s Feng Shui exercise.
‘House A’, we concluded as just another crowded tourist spot. Not only is the entrance located away from the flow of the river, there is also no Bright Hall whatsoever to allow Qi to gather. End of story.
‘House B’ had a plaque on its wall declaring it as the house of the richest man in town. Classical Feng Shui confirms this claim: viewed from an elevated distance, House B was clearly tilted to face the incoming water flow of the river. It also faces the convergence of two rivers, a ‘Water Mouth’. And guess what? All the other houses in the row face the river squarely - Qi flows right by! Furthermore, being that close to the river (sentimental as it is), the external Bright Hall was also lacking.
The third house was a little farther upstream. Outside the nondescript house was a plaque declaring generations of scholars, and one ‘Wu Zhuang Yuan’ (an impressive Martial Scholar!). This nondescript house consisted of a main hall, a room, a kitchen lodged in between, and a manmade pond at the front. Hmm… use of water to ‘activate’ Qi? Not quite. Remember - Landforms. The house faces a mountain directly - above eyebrow level height, this does not qualify as a Table Mountain to lock in Qi. The pond instead serves to slow the Qi rushing down from the mountain, allowing it to be received directly into the house. No reward for guessing that this Wu Zhuang Yuan’s house is receiving a Military Arts star. But, a scholar every generation? Now, that requires greater firepower. And it is right outside - directly upstream to the eastern distance is a ‘Seated General’ Military Arts - and this house is the first in line to receive the Qi. End of story.
 After lunch we were off to the Yu Family Ancestral Hall, not too far away from our first site. Right out of the bus, we were greeted by a massive, almost gushing river. A short walk up and we are greeted by another river intersecting the first - a natural Water Mouth, where all the Qi from surrounding mountains will gather. And yes, it is locked by a Military Arts star so that the Qi stays within the village.
The Ancestral Town Hall itself is an impressive structure. From the entrance however, many of us were baffled by the over-the-brow Table Mountain. Once again, too high up. The answer lies within the Hall.
At the first courtyard which functions as a Bright Hall, huge plaques bore the names of all previously successful Yu ancestors. What a long list it was. But the secret was to be found in the inner hall that housed the Ancestral Tablets. Get this - the Tablet platform is elevated over 10 feet off ground. As we walked up the steps, the reason became obvious: the Tablets were now at perfect Table Mountain height! Qi is tapped directly, augmented by internal Bright Halls. Perfect as it taps into the Greedy Wolf star and the powerful structure created by the converging rivers..
Unlike tombs where we have DNA to talk about, Town Halls function very much like today’s Parliament or White House. Important people gather, make important decisions, an entire village, state, or country is affected. Good Feng Shui required? I sure think so.
Speaking of Tombs, the founder of the Yu Village had his father buried not too far away from the Town Hall. 5 minutes drive and 10 minutes of walkthrough some farmand later, we found another impressive structure. Same technique, different application (Yin House). The Tombstone was position to take advantage of the Table Mountain while the external and internal Bright Hall collected the Qi from the 3 layers of mountains topped by a ‘Pen Holder’ formation and the greater Greedy Wolf ancestor mountains.
The most spectacular thing was this: standing at the tomb, surrounded by the mountain embraces, no wind at all was passing thru. All was peaceful and quiet. The site was truly protected from the winds. Qi cannot be dispersed.
No time to rest and ponder on the awe of nature’s design, we were off to our final site for today, the Jiang Village. 
Now, the Jiang family is known for becoming ministers so were on the lookout for either Military Arts or Greedy Wolf stars. Strangely though, only a weak Literary Arts star can be seen. The inner memorial gardens have been touted by tour guides as the place with the best Feng Shui, thus producing ministers. While it was scenic with a pond and flowers, we wondered halfway what the reference point was: what was receiving Qi, if any? There was no building structure to contain any Qi.
The second site within the village was Jiang’s ancestral home. Hmm… no mountain in sight, no water, not virtual Qi mouth - where was the Qi coming from? For a house which purported borne ministers, we were left with more questions than answers. Did the tour guides get their facts right? Was this the actual Jiang ancestral home? Could the real ancestral home be somewhere else?
One thing we learnt about Landforms: no forms, no Qi. Can’t see it, can’t receive it. After all, ‘Luan Tou’ means ‘mountain face’. Obviously one needs to ‘see’ the face in the first place, and different ‘faces’ of the mountain yield different results. More to faces to see tomorrow.
Reported by Sherwin Ng.
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