Until recently it was
thought that it was developed from what is usually referred to as Yin House Feng Shui, or the method of feng shui used in
the location and positioning of graves. (Yang House Feng Shui, the kind of feng shui normally applied in the West, being
about buildings used by the living. However, this is now thought not to be correct and more recent thinking is that it probably
began with simple observations by early man of his environment. Initially, it was more to do with the manner in which that
environment affected people than about human fortunes. One example currently in favour is that it may have started with
early cave dwellers noticing things about where they were living. For example, those caves which faced east were warm and
sunny in the morning, those that faced north were colder, particularly in winter and those facing south were warmest, in fact hot, especially in summer. This is thought now t be the start of taking into account directional influences. Later, a more sophisticated knowledge of the surroundings developed. With time, this knowledge began to develop into
feng shui as we know it today. A key point to this being that feng shui was developed, rather than being invented by any
one individual. However, some of the first written references take us back to the time of the first or Yellow Emperor: Huang-ti 2700BCE (Not to be confused with Qin Shi Huangdi, of terracotta warrior fame and the emperor who first created a unified China under the Qin Dynasty 221-206BCE.)
Hung-ti, the legendary Yellow Emperor, so named as he lived and ruled near the Yellow River (Huang Jiang),
is attributed to be the first to employ feng shui against a rival who was using black magic against him. The Yellow Emperor, is said to have been given information by the Goddess of the Ninth Heaven which enabled him to overcome his enemy and vanquish him totally. He is said to have put a compass on his war chariot. This is the first record of a compass being used and the recognized start of feng shui.
However, since the trigrams were invented by Fu Hsi in approximately 4500BCE it is possible that feng shui was used even earlier than the Yellow Emperor's time.
The first reference to the terms Wind and Water together in connection with the study of the environment are from Kwok Po's Book of Burial which states: “The energy of the Dragon will be dispersed by wind, will stop at the boundary of water.” Thus Wind and Water came to be recognized as key criteria by which to judge the geomancy of a site and so it came to be called ‘Wind and Water'.
A further development came as man noticed the changing effects of time. Put simply, if one has been living in a building for a long time and changed nothing either to the structure or one's behaviour and yet one's fortunes still appear to change, for no recognized reason, what has changed but the passage of time? Thus came about the concept of time as a factor in feng shui, perhaps one of the most significant and sophisticated developments ever. This is recognized as the most dynamic aspect of feng shui that alone throws light on the cause of otherwise inexplicable changes to one's fortunes. This awareness of the effects of Time over Space led to the development of a number of schools. Xuan Kong being one of the principle ones. Another is the Fey Xing school.
