The Foreign Service Journal, March 2013

12 MARCH 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Feng Shui for Embassy Beijing? I read with much inter- est Jane Loeffler’s December article, “Beyond the Fortress Embassy.” She reported that the architects of the new embassy in Beijing had introduced into the 10-acre site “American high-tech design with Chinese landscape tradition.” In my opinion, this was an oblique reference to feng shui (literally “wind and water”), the ancient Chinese art of placement to create harmony, health and prosperity. In the photo accompanying Loeffler’s article, lots of shui (water) surrounds the main chancery. Water equals money, according to feng shui. Is this a metaphor for Beijing as America’s No. 1 creditor? The chancery appears to be protected against the harsh wind (feng) from the north by the 15-story chan- cery annex shown in the background. It illustrates another theme in feng shui, building security—an obsession shared by past Chinese emperors and current American leaders. This obsession with building security was the impetus for the manmade moun- tain erected directly behind Beijing’s Forbidden City. French cartographers in China called it literally Montagne de Charbon. Figuratively, it symbolizes the natural energy (chi) of the protective tortoise with its high-arched shell and long life. This is a classic feng shui enhance- ment: the tortoise mountain in the rear gave the Ming emperor who built the Forbidden City a sense of security against attack, as well as real protection from the north winds (gentle wind is the ideal). Finally, one might ask, is the new Bei- jing chancery bestowed with good feng shui? Perhaps a feng shui master (si fu) on the ground will answer this question definitively in the future. Jose Armilla FSO, retired Vienna, Va. n