Master Wang's Yang Dwelling Judgments: The Zhang Residence at Zhaoru Village

The Zhang residence at Zhaoru Village is a Kan (Water) dwelling, laid out as a siheyuan courtyard. The street-front rooms were not yet raised; although the Zhen (east) and Xun (southeast) sectors were prosperous, neighbors in the chou and yin directions had erected two tall buildings—though immediately to one's own east there was no structure, only a house one household away.

The judgment: the eldest branch (zhang men) had five sons. Behind the main dwelling, several parcels of land had been successively purchased on either side, all adjoining the old house. Their lengths varied, protruding and receding, so that they resembled water; water can nourish the wood of the eldest branch, hence the abundance of sons. The second branch died in a yin year, in a manner both violent and strange. This is because in the Five Ghosts (wu gui) sector at chou of this dwelling, a tall building was raised in one's own newly purchased courtyard; and in the wu gui sector at yin, the Yang family also erected a tall building. The wu gui presides over calamity; a single story would already be unendurable—how much more so two stories. The height of two stories further belongs to fire, feeding the fire of the wu gui; and the two-story structure is hollow at its core, so that fire grows still more vigorous. Moreover, the wu-yin year was itself a year of flourishing fire. And in the previous year the Grand Duke (tai sui), together with the wu-ji and the Three Killings (san sha), clashed and stirred, activating the two-story building of the wu gui. How could it not be calamitous? How could it not be violent? How could it not be strange? The baleful force of the two-story building pressed upon the position of the youngest son—was not his death both violent and strange?

Case Background

• Location: Zhang residence, Zhaoru Village
• Structure: A Kan dwelling—that is, a siheyuan courtyard (a typical northern residential form)
• Surrounding environment:
  • Street-front rooms not yet raised (surrounding construction incomplete)
  • Zhen (east) and Xun (southeast) both prosperous (wood flourishing)
  • Tall neighbor buildings in the chou and yin sectors (tall buildings to the northeast)
  • No structure immediately to the east; a house only one household away (nothing on one's own east side, but a house beyond the intervening household)

Feng Shui Analysis

• Eldest branch (principal gate or the eldest son's quarters):
  • Five sons (the eldest branch had five sons)
  • Several parcels of land were successively purchased on either side, adjoining the old dwelling
  • The parcels varied in length, resembling water (symbolizing water generating wood, which aids the growth of the wood phase)
  • This configuration caused the eldest branch to have many sons
• Second branch (the quarters of the second son):
  • A death occurred in a yin year, accompanied by ominous events
  • Analysis of the cause:
    • A tall building was raised in the newly purchased courtyard in the chou sector
    • The Yang family also built a tall building in the yin sector
    • The Gen sector presides over calamity; a single building would already be inauspicious, let alone two
    • Two tall buildings belong to fire, reinforcing the fire nature
    • The hollow cores of the storeys make the fire still more vigorous
    • The wu-yin year is a year of flourishing fire, compounded by the impacts of the Grand Duke, wu-ji, and the Three Killings
    • These factors produced the misfortune of the second branch

Conclusion

• Because the Gen sector—the position of the youngest son—was assailed from both sides by the baleful force of two tall buildings, the death in the yin year was both violent and strange.