Green Utopia: Fengshui Forests and the Ambivalent Enterprise of China’s “Ecological Civilization” Campaign

by Vivian Fan

At the turn of the 21st century, the word “fengshui” began to find its way into the vocabularies of contemporary Western society. Throughout the past few decades, particularly in studies or discussions related to architecture and interior design, one might occasionally stumble across this enigmatic Chinese term that signifies the deliberate creation of harmony between humans, living space, and nature. However, fengshui does not simply mean an effective arrangement of furniture in one’s home; rather, it denotes a complex system of spiritual and ecological components that could be traced back thousands of years. Its significance is deeply rooted in the natural landscapes that have surrounded villages and small towns since premodern China. While fengshui forests had been the bedrock of several Chinese communities for millennia, the rapid transformations brought about by modernization and globalization have since led to unprecedented challenges that pose great threats to the integrity, cohesion, and cultural significance of these sacred woodlands. 

In order to understand the critical role of fengshui forests in the structuring of rural Chinese communities, we must first turn to the concept of fengshui itself and what it entails. Directly translated as “wind-water, ” fengshui is a system of Taoist divination, in which the qualities of one’s life are improved via a careful guiding and maneuvering of qi (the flow of life force) that exists beyond humankind and lies within earthly and divine energies. The Book of Burial, a canonical work on ancient Chinese rituals that included the first mention of fengshui in documented history, describes the flow of qi as such: “qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water. ” The structure of a village, therefore, must include natural elements that “capture” wind, such as trees, and “gather water, ” such as streams and rivers. In essence, fengshui is a practice that follows the Taoist concept of “Man and Cosmos in Unity” (Tian ren he yi), where ideal locations for proper, sustainable living are established through regulating and classifying optimal flows of qi as directed by natural phenomena. One example of human intervention in this guiding of qi would be the construction of shrines and other religious structures as well as the planting of new groves, altering the natural flows of wind and water in order to tackle issues such as storms and soil erosion. 

While the types of fengshui forests may differ across the regions depending on their topographies and constitutive native tree species, the villages share various similar characteristics, particularly in terms of structural design in conjunction with the surrounding landscapes. One such example would be the presence of a “master mountain” (Zhu shan) located behind the village. The forests protect villagers from natural disasters, and in turn the village protects the forests by taking care of rare and delicate groves and planting new trees, all of which are guided by an intricate system of qi regulation in accordance with fengshui. This is a quintessential example of a mutually beneficial relationship between man and nature, in which harmony amongst all living things is fostered by fengshui. The practice not only breathes life into the structures of these rural communities, but also incorporates ecology and biodiversity as indispensable components of human life. 

Following the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the new government immediately established a comprehensive ban on all things deemed “feudalistic, ” including pseudo-scientific practices like fengshui. From the mid to late 20th century came a flurry of rapid transformations across China, including the push for urbanization that led to the devastation of several ancient forests. It was only towards the end of the millennium that fengshui regained some form of recognition, particularly from citizens residing in the countryside who argued for the significance of fengshui forests in the preservation of cultural heritage. Around the start of the 21st century, the Chinese government began to recognize the dire consequences of years of industrialization, coinciding with a growing nationwide awareness and concern over escalating environmental issues. Here is where the campaign for an “Ecological Civilization” (Sheng tai wen ming), which first gained traction in 2006, began to play an increasingly vital role in China’s national agenda. Simply put, “Ecological Civilization” consists of a range of policies that mainly focus on the development of a “national land use zonation system. ” For example, in order to refine the links between effective ecological preservation and financial support, the government established a system of incentives and fines while tightening environmental damage protocols. Through this zonation system, the preservation of fengshui forests now operates under the name of fengjinglin, or “scenic forests, ” the feudalistic term “fengshui” completely discarded. To quote Xi Jinping, “Ecological Civilization” is essential in building “a beautiful China. ” This idea of beauty holds a position of significance, as the state-issued protective measures of the new “scenic forests” are now guided under the premise of conserving natural landscapes in a systematic yet “aesthetically pleasing” way. Due to massive changes in China’s socioeconomic realms, rural areas have been profoundly transformed both culturally and ecologically, leading to a dwindling of traditional fengshui practices that included tree protection and forest management. What this signifies is a cleaving of communities and cultural heritage, where fengshui forests as important markers of history have been razed to the ground in order to incorporate newer, more “modern” methods of forest protection—aiming for beauty, rather than true harmony between man and nature. 

As we have seen, conflicting ideologies continue to play off one another in China’s journey towards establishing a feasible “Ecological Civilization. ” While the nation’s economic triumphs have garnered much optimistic attention around the globe, the fact remains that its urbanization plan has brought about significant harm to the socioecological environment of China’s rural communities. Most of these woodlands have disappeared today or have been severely altered—to the point where they remain as fengshui forests merely by virtue of their rich history. China’s goal, it seems, is to balance the contradictory notions of urban acceleration and environmental protection. They aim to do this by revamping the spiritual implications of fengshui forests and converting them into advertisable forms of “scenic forests, ” which serve the dual purpose of commercialization and conservation. 

While the utopia of an “Ecological Civilization” may very well remain an inscrutable mass of abstracts and concepts, there are still important lessons to be learned. What we can fruitfully take away from the present predicament of commercializing fengshui forests for the purposes of achieving an “ecological civilization” is precisely this: the consequences of modernization and rapid industrialization in China, which of course are symptomatic in most places around the world, point to the necessity for such paradoxes to exist. We no longer reside in a world where we can simply return to a life in full harmony with nature. The principles of fengshui cannot be truly emulated in the structures of a 21st-century community, due to the dissolution of natural ecologies and the mass construction of urban infrastructure that now dominates human life. However, we can still make changes for the future with the practice of fengshui in mind. Studying and investing in culturally significant woodlands, such as fengshui forests, is crucial for the development of diverse solutions to confront the global climate crisis. These forests offer critical insight into how humanity and nature can coexist through a philosophy of mutual respect and protection, focusing on safeguarding our environments while working to collectively improve the quality of life.