Symbols of China

Symbols of Chinaby

George Birdsall

First Published by George BirdsallCopyright 2014 to George Birdsall

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From the Author

This is a personal review and outline of my life experiences to date, about the

nature of Symbolic China and its many aspects.

It is not an exhaustive academic study, just an outline of my personal

observations from life experiences over the last 50 or so years.

My first recollections of the importance of symbols in Chinese belief systems

probably first came to light in my holiday workings in the family tanning

business where the wrapping paper of Birdsall Brothers P/L had the 2 “B”s

turned into 2 intertwined symbolic birds. I was later told by my families’ Asian

business partners, that this symbol was a sign for them that they were dealing

with the right people and that the symbol of birds represented good luck for

them and it helped forge a stable successful business relationship.

My interest in all Asian philosophies and in particular Feng Shui which led me

to write my first book “Feng Shui - The Key Concepts” ( has sold over 50,000

copies and is sold in 8 languages) reinforced these earlier experiences about

the symbolic nature of China, its culture, philosophies and people.

Introduction

Over many years of learning Asian concepts and principles, I finally decided to

experience China first hand. I had been to Hong Kong a few times and seen the

hotel with large glass windows at ground level coffee shop, the apartment

building with the huge hole in the middle, the bank of China building with the

sharp corners, the Richard Rogers designed Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank

building (pictured below) and many other Feng Shui principles being applied.

Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building – Richard Rogers

However I was hoping that mainland China may open the door to further

understanding of the application of Feng Shui and other Asian philosophies in

the built environment and how it can be applied within the buildings I see and

work with in a western environment.

Having grown up in a family with business connections to Asia, and being

reminded regularly that the double bird symbol on the companies wrapping

paper, had been widely accepted as a lucky sign to Asian businessman, hearing

about the yin yang symbol, then learning about Feng Shui and its symbolism

and writing 2 books on the subject and having had many years of acupuncture

treatments, it was time to check out Beijing, the Great wall, Xian and

Shanghai.

Yin Yang Symbol – balance and two sides to everything

Within my study of Feng Shui, the symbolic nature of its principles really

resonated with me and it was a way of making sense of the built environment

that I had never heard of before Feng Shui.

I have previously outlined many of the concepts of symbols of Feng Shui in my

books “Feng Shui - The Key Concepts ” and also “How to Create Love, Wealth

and Happiness with Feng Shui ” . I am is also a diamond level expert author at

e-zine articles and more articles can be found at his main website

The Journey to China

I travelled to China, to experience the culture first hand and see the buildings,

structures, natural environment, their symbolism and continue a personal

journey of discovery.

Beijing and its Olympic Buildings

Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympics and their main stadium (the birds nest) and

swimming centre (the water cube) and the area surrounding them were reported

to be designed and built based on Feng Shui principles. For example the

Olympic Park is surrounded by a “Dragon” lake, with the Dragon head starting

from the North and winding in curved forms past the main stadium so as to

gently energise the areas along the way. In terms of Feng Shui, water

symbolically is in the “north” and connects with the concept of your career and

dragon breathes energy along these flow lines to uplift an area.

Map of Beijing Olympic Park

You may also remember the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics was

commenced at 8th August 2008 at 8:08 pm. In Chinese philosophy, Chinese

astrology, numerology and beliefs, the number 8 is a very auspicious number,

and is associated with great fortune.

The symbolic journey begins immediately, as we visit the Olympic Park

precinct in northern Beijing on our first day.

Sign at Beijing Olympic Park highlighting the Dragon Lake,

Birds Nest and Water Cube

The Square and the Circle Olympic Buildings

The Yin Yang principles of Chinese philosophy always seek to find balance,

and in the square, and the circle, that balance is found.

The symbolic elements of the “Square” (Water Cube/ National Aquatic and

Swimming Centre) and the “Circle” (Main Stadium / Birds Nest) are located

either side of the main Olympic boulevard, which forms the North / South

spine of Beijing Olympics and was important to the way China presented their

Olympics to the world.

The Main Olympic Stadium Beijing (The Birds Nest)

The Birds Nest is oval in shape (almost a circle) and represents the “heavens”

looking down and connecting with man. While the Water Cube Swimming

Centre is square and represents man’s connection to the earth.

The Water Cube and Birds Nest from the air

In Chinese philosophy the duality of man connecting with both heaven and

earth is referred to repeatedly through thousands of years of literature and

research.

One of the basic precepts of Chinese philosophy is the idea that it is important

to look after your ancestors in heaven as they will ensure an auspicious life for

their relatives on earth. An extreme example of this is found with the terracotta

warriors, which we will explore later in this eBook.

For those people who honour and look after their ancestors, they will have

more luck and life will flow well for them. There is an annual Ancestor day in

China called Qingming where traditional families visit the burial sites of their

loved ones, burn paper gifts and spend time cleaning them.

This concept of heaven and earth was represented by the following “Elements

of Chi” diagram from my book Feng Shui – The Key Concepts.

In the design of the two major Olympic Buildings, this connection between

heaven and earth is clearly represented.

Extract from my Book “Feng Shui- The Key Concepts’

Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal

There are 5 major symbolic elements discussed in Chinese philosophy – Water,

Wood, Fire, Earth and Water. These elements are important as everything in

the physical world can be represented by these elements. They are inter wound

within the design principles of the Olympic buildings.

In the same way that the square and the circle are used to represent heaven and

earth, the symbolism of the elements continues with the detailed design of the

buildings.

The main Olympic stadium (Birds Nest) has been likened to a “gold” ingot

bringing in the metal element and also the auspicious natural qualities of gold

from the earth. It is framed in square steel beams continue that theme.

The Birds Nest

Its nick name as a “Birds Nest” connects it to the element of wood which is

generated by auspicious birds coming to their nest in the trees to create new life

and chi, which are seen as lucky symbols in Chinese philosophy (I knew my

family’s business did well in Asia – maybe it was the double bird symbol of its

packaging which helped even more) The birds also generate “chi” and

movement, creating a perfect package in which athletes could strive for world

records and personal best times.

The shape of the stadium also has a central “performance” area like a hole in a

donut which is seen in the design of many older residential buildings in China

where the rooms surround an open courtyard. Yes I know all stadiums are

designed like this, however it helps from an Asian point of view that an empty

space is available to the athletes to compete and that this empty space is seen as

the central point of balance of the whole building structure.

It follows the Chinese philosophy that this empty space at the centre of the “Ba

Gua” symbol is the “tai chi” where everything is in balance and is left empty to

allow everything surrounding it to be in balance. The symbol of the Ba Gua as

shown in the next diagram goes back thousands of years and its central part is

where everything comes into balance. (symbolised by a mirror)

Ba Gua Image

The Water Cube Aquatic Centre is designed to amplify the nature of the water

element, with its walls and roof being bubbles of “water” and having

swimming pools and other water features to host water sports.

The Water Cube - Swimming and Aquatic Centre Beijing

At the West of the Olympic Park, there is a new White Dragon hotel named

Pangu Plaza. The building was designed as the Dragon head facing South and

its tail facing North. This is a 7-star hotel in Beijing and was opened during the

2008 Olympics.

7 Star Pangou Plaza Hotel with dragons head.

Other interesting buildings in Beijing with symbolic meanings

include:

The Temple of Heaven which again symbolises using circular shapes reaching

for the sky in the tower surrounded by external walls which are square in shape

to ground the heaven energy to earth.

The Temple of Heaven, Beijing

Grand doorways built into the walls around the temple of heaven amplify the

significance of the entry way to any Chinese building.

Door ways to any building or area are grandly designed as they symbolise the

mouth or entry where the chi enters the space to enliven the building. In the

west all successful Chinese restaurants have grand entrances which highlight

where the chi enters the building.

Entrance to Temple of Heaven

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Palace also continue these themes

Forbidden Palace Buildings and Main Square

The Great Wall

Leaving Beijing and heading to the countryside just outside Beijing, we find a

section of the Great Wall of China. It is one of the most amazing structures

built in the physical world. Symbolically representing the way Chinese people

could come together to work for the good of the country, separate china from

the rest of the world, repel foreign invaders and protect their heritage and

people. It is reported to be over 8,000 kilometres (around 5000 miles) long and

built over 14 centuries.

On the Great Wall of China looking at other sections on neighbouring

Hilltops.

A section of the Great Wall showing its steepness

and way it follows the terrain.

Xian and the Terracotta Warriors

Next heading to the ancient Chinese capital of Xian home of the Terracotta

Warriors is an area full of symbolism and connections between heaven and

earth for Chinese emperors wanting to live a blessed after life.

The old city of Xian (close by the warrior tombs) again shows the .way

Chinese people valued the building of walls as protection from external forces.

The walls protecting the inner city of the emperor are 12 m high (40 ft.) and

12-14 m wide and 14 kilometres long (8.5 miles). The city was the centre of

the political and economic power in China for many years and also the start of

the Silk Road.

Wall around Xian - Notice how high it is

Top of the Wall in Xian - showing the width and length

on top of the wall ( they run marathons here).

Terracotta Warriors

However Xian would hardly be known outsdide of China if it were not for the

terracotta warriors.

The terracotta wariors were constructed to protect the emperor in the afterlife.

This respect of ancestors in the afterlife is still a very powerful symbolic

gesture carried out by many Asian people who celebrate their dead ancestors at

elaborate festivals. The main ones being the Qingming festival in early April

each year and also the hungry ghost festival in the 7th month of the lunar

calender.

At the site of the terracotta warriors, there are 4 main pits where they have

found evidence of the warriors.

Pit 1 contains over 6000 warriors which average around 1.8 m or 6 ft high.

It has been suggested that over 700,000 people worked on preparing the tomb

and the army of warriors, chariots and horses for the Emporer Qin , starting

from the time he ascended the throne at 13.

It is an extreme way to ensure your afterlife journey goes well!

Pit 1, Terracotta Warriors, near Xian

Some of the horses being restored near Pit 1

Shanghai

Lastly to the modern business centre of Shanghai. The main symbolic gestures

about Shanghai today are the focus on being western and all that entails. From

multi storey buildings obsessively built to be the tallest , to a very fast TGV

style train between the airport and city which travels at 430 kph and the basic

symbols of a materialistic society.

Hidden among this new Shanghai, are some of the old Shanghai, showing

symbols of yesteryear. The image below shows a bridge within the Yu Garden

designed in a way to not allow any straight lines where you could be followed

my malevolent spirits. In Feng Shui terms it is important for pathways to be

curved so a so control the flow of chi or energy rather than have paths which

are straight and the chi would flow so quickly as to disturb the energy of a

place.

Bridge in Yu Garden, Shanghai

Overview

Having heard about how important symbolism is to Asian born people from an

early age, then through many years of study and observation of Feng Shui

principles and finally visiting some of the major cities and historical locations

in China, it is obvious how physical man made symbols and also the unseen

symbol gestures around ancestors, and the respect of the flow of energy and chi

in every part of our environment is a key element of Chinese beliefs and

culture.

This eBook give a brief overview of my own experiences over more than 50

years about Chinese and Asian culture and the importance of symbols within

that culture.

More information about George Birdsall can be found at

www.georgebirdsall.com