There are two approaches to Feng Shui, namely Li Qi and Xing Fa.

Li Qi (Theory of Qi) is a mathematics driven approach that places more emphasis on the calculating the location and quality of qi at any given point in time.

Xing Fa (Forms Method) popularly known as Luan Tou or Landform Feng Shui places more emphasis on the use of natural forms such as mountains and rivers and mad made structures such as roads and buildings.

There are major schools of Feng Shui, namely San Yuan (Three Cycle) and San He (Three Harmony).

Both makes use of Li Qi and Xing Fa principles. San Yuan places more emphasis on Li Qi while San He places more emphasis on Xing Fa. Both require the use of the compass to determine direction.

Xuan Kong Feng Shui is a system under the San Yuan School. Xuan Kong means “mysterious and void”. However do not worry. Once you understand it, there is nothing mysterious about Xuan Kong.

Xuan Kong Fei Xing (or Flying Stars) is a highly popular sub-system within Xuan Kong Feng Shui. Others in the Xuan Kong family include:-

• Xuan Kong Da Gua (64 Hexagram)
• Xuan Kong Liu Fa (6 methods)
• Xuan Kong Zi Bai Jue (Purple White Divinition)
• Xuan Kong Ze Ri (Date Selection)

No one knows the origin of Xuan Kong Feng Shui. However certain practitioners and scholars wrote books and commentaries on the subject which today has become reference text on this specific aspect of Feng Shui.

Jiang Da Hong a late Ming early Qing dynasty scholar wrote many texts on the subject. Feng Shui was not taught openly like today and much of it was considered secret. To limit the spread of the knowledge Jiang’s books were written in poetic and cryptic language which made it very difficult to understand.

Zhang Zhong Shan a late Qing Dynasty Scholar added commentaries to Jiang’s work and it contributed greatly to the understanding of Xuan Kong Feng Shui.

Later, Tan Yang Wu a practitioner cleaned up and removed irrelevant and unnecessary parts of existing text based on his personal observations and case studies. At about the same time, Shen Zu Reng who was well verse in the Chinese and English language, reorganized and rewrote Zhang Zhong Shan’s and other writers works in a more direct and easy to understand style thus making Xuan Kong knowledge available to anyone who wants to learn.

Much of the Xuan Kong Fei Xing knowledge that we know today is based on the work of Shen and Tan.