Travelogue: China Bucket List | Langzhong
Tianran He, Xu Zhengyin
01:00

In everyday life, we tend to associate fengshui with positioning furniture in the house, or maybe with fortune-telling. In fact, fengshui is the art of harmonizing with your environment. Its principles can be applied to everything, from where to put the television, to when to move house, and even how to build a city.

That was the case with Langzhong, a 2,300-year-old town in southwestern China. It's nestled within a ring of mountains and located on the banks of a wide river – a perfect spot in the world of fengshui, with mountains protecting, the river bringing in wealth; easily defensible, yet also accessible. Also according to fengshui principles, Langzhong's military, trade and residential quarters are located in parts of the town that correspond to a particular element – metal or wood.

But if you want to go even deeper and try to decipher some of fengshui's more complex, borderline abstract principles, you're likely to walk away confused and frustrated. After all, fengshui extends into every aspect of life, from the macro to the micro. Perhaps the best thing you can do is to visit Langzhong, to see for yourself how the rules of fengshui work in everyday life.

The ancient township of Langzhong. /VCG

The ancient township of Langzhong. /VCG

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