South · 180° — FengShui.info

In the tradition

Li is fire: a broken line held between two solid ones, the flame clinging to what feeds it. It is summer, noon, the middle daughter, and above all clarity, the state of being seen. The Later Heaven arrangement puts Li at the top, which is why classical Chinese diagrams and maps are drawn south-up.

The Form School oriented the ideal dwelling to face south: light in front, shelter behind, the “red bird” of open ground before the door. The Western bagua makes this the sector of fame and reputation, a modern reading of Li’s visibility.

In the room

In the northern hemisphere south is the sunniest elevation, with high sun in summer and low, deep-reaching sun in winter. It is the natural orientation for living rooms and for any room used through the day. The problems are glare and overheating in summer; the classical balance is Earth (weight, matte surfaces, warm neutrals) and a little Water to cool it.

Fig. 02 · Sun path · 45°N The sky a South-facing wall can see, and the sun’s track across it in June, at the equinoxes and in December.

Jun: 8.5 h
Mar · Sep: 12.0 h
Dec: 8.5 h

A geometric model, not a forecast: it assumes a clear sky and a flat horizon at 45° north, and it says nothing about qi. It is here because orientation is the one part of the tradition that can be drawn exactly.

See South on the Bagua explorer

Sources for this page · the full bibliography

01 Stephen Skinner, The Living Earth Manual of Feng-Shui (1982). Routledge & Kegan Paul. An early, serious English introduction to the classical system.

02 Eva Wong, Feng-shui: The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living for Modern Times (1996). Shambhala. A compass-school practitioner’s account of the Form and Compass methods, clear about which is which.

03 Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 4, part 1: Physics (1962). Cambridge University Press. The history of the magnetic compass in China, including its use by geomancers before navigators.

04 Mohamed Boubekri and colleagues, Impact of windows and daylight exposure on overall health and sleep quality of office workers: a case-control pilot study (2014). Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 10(6), 603–611. Daylight at work and sleep at night; a small study, honestly labelled a pilot.

05 Joshua J. Gooley and colleagues, Exposure to room light before bedtime suppresses melatonin onset and shortens melatonin duration in humans (2011). Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 96(3), E463–E472. Ordinary room light before bed, not only screens, delays melatonin.

The sun-path drawing and the hours of light are computed from a geometric model at 45° north (see the methodology page), not taken from any source; the directions' trigrams, elements and readings are the tradition's, as the manuals above give them.