Li Dingxin
In the vast historical documents, Feng Shui stands out uniquely. Tracing its origins, it was first created by our ancient Chinese ancestor Guo Pu (276-324 AD), and thus Guo Pu is widely recognized as the forefather of Chinese Feng Shui. The term "Feng Shui" cannot be found in the vocabularies of other countries; it is a unique cultural treasure of our great motherland, another great invention alongside the four ancient inventions of China. Therefore, the world unanimously acknowledges that the essence of Feng Shui resides in China.
In China, Feng Shui has gone through a history of over seven thousand years. It started with the primitive Feng Shui of building nests from wood, went through the turtle divination of the Yin and Zhou dynasties (1793 BC - 247 BC) for choosing residences and graves, then evolved into the Eight Mansion Feng Shui for selecting dwellings and tombs during the Qin and Han dynasties (246 BC - 24 AD). By the time of the Jin dynasty (265-419 AD), Guo Pu compiled all previous Feng Shui knowledge and wrote "The Book of Burial," laying down the ancient scientific theory of "riding the vital energy," which became the core of Feng Shui theory.
After the fall of the Western Jin dynasty and the establishment of the Eastern Jin dynasty, Wang Dun (266-324) was appointed as Grand General. In the second year of Taiping (324), Wang Dun stationed his troops in Wuchang and appointed Guo Pu as his military advisor. Wang Dun intended to rebel, so he ordered Guo Pu to perform divination. Guo Pu predicted that Wang Dun would surely fail, and subsequently, Guo Pu was killed by Wang Dun. Guo Pu's "The Book of Burial" was then confiscated and kept as a secret technique in the imperial court known as the "Forbidden Jade Letter Secret Technique."
The "Comprehensive Catalogue of the Four Treasuries: Preface to the Swinging Dragon Classic" records: "... Only the practitioners of the art have passed down this tradition, believing that Yishan was named Yi, a native of Ganzhou, who was in charge of geomancy at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and held the rank of Jinzi Guanglu Doctor. During the Guangming period (880), when Huang Chao invaded the capital, he stole the 'Forbidden Jade Letter Secret Technique' and fled. Later, he traveled back and forth between Chu (Gan) and Qianzhou states. These are unverifiable tales, and they should not be trusted..."