Introduction
Feng Shui, an ancient environmental ecology, adheres to the principle of "storing wind and gathering qi." It aligns closely with Chinese architecture and planning. Feng Shui divides into natural and cultural environments, which must merge to create optimal conditions. Hong Kong highly values Feng Shui.
Feng Shui in Hong Kong
From a Feng Shui perspective, Central is Hong Kong's dragon vein, featuring a unique and superior layout. Water flows from the Pearl River, through Kap Shui Mun, into Victoria Harbour via Tai Koo, then into Lei Yue Mun through Kwun Tong, finally being slowed by Tung Lung Chau. Rapid water enters, slow water exits, creating two "treasure basins" at the two bends. In Feng Shui, this is called "Nine Bend Water," the highest form of auspicious water.
Tsim Sha Tsui's Influence
From an aerial view, the north and south banks of Victoria Harbour show Tsim Sha Tsui as a protruding landform and Central as a concave landform. Before the reclamation of West Kowloon, these two landforms formed a perfect plane, known in Feng Shui as the "welcoming and sending formation," typically used in architectural Feng Shui.
In addition to these top formations, the most critical is Tsim Sha Tsui's strongest "Three Sha" position formed by its terrain. The Three Sha, or Three Kills, are positions that clash with the prosperous positions of the year. Feng Shui has a saying: "To prosper, fight the Three Sha." The powerful Sha energy from Tsim Sha Tsui boosts all of Central, and for commercial buildings to thrive, they must "fight the Three Sha."
Case Study: HSBC Headquarters
The earliest example is the HSBC headquarters building.
Using it as a case study, we analyze the understanding and use of Feng Shui regarding the "Three Sha" positions. Although the HSBC headquarters was designed by British architect Norman Foster, its design fully considered Feng Shui principles. In Central Hong Kong, the HSBC building is the only commercial building that directly faces the "Three Sha" position of Tsim Sha Tsui.
The front of the HSBC building faces Victoria Harbour with no high-rise buildings in front of it. Generally, when dealing with the negative energy from the terrain, one should avoid direct confrontation.
When HSBC chose this direct location facing Tsim Sha Tsui, it needed over 20,000 square meters (17 acres) of building space but purchased nearly 50,000 square meters of land. The land in front of the building was turned into a park with dense trees and given to the government to manage. This park is now the famous Statue Square in Hong Kong. The purpose was to use the dense trees in the park to buffer the "Three Sha" energy from Tsim Sha Tsui, allowing the negative energy to be mitigated before reaching the bank's entrance.
There are two lion statues in front of the building, "Stephen" and "Stitt," considered mascots that bring wealth and protection and serve as a second layer of buffer against negative energy.
However, this was not enough to completely block the strong negative energy in Central. HSBC left the ground floor completely open, with a transparent and open structure allowing the negative energy to pass through without affecting the building.
It’s important to understand a Feng Shui concept: the "prosperity" and "decline" brought by negative energy are proportional to "wealth" and "failure." The key to dealing with the "Three Sha" is to avoid the decline it brings and skillfully absorb the right amount of energy to achieve a "leveraging" effect.
After achieving the effect of avoiding negative energy with the special ground floor design, HSBC used only two escalators to absorb a small amount of the energy affecting Central.
The open design of the escalators and the extensive use of glass partitions within the building allowed the negative energy to filter through but not overwhelm the building. Floors one to eight feature an open atrium where the energy disperses and circulates.
This small amount of negative (wealth) energy is enough to keep HSBC in an undefeated position in Hong Kong's financial sector. The HSBC Feng Shui layout is considered a masterpiece because it does not directly face the "Three Sha" position of Tsim Sha Tsui; instead, the HSBC building faces it with its back.
When the negative energy rushes from Victoria Harbour, it passes through the open ground floor of HSBC.
Conclusion
The entire HSBC building rides on this powerful "dragon," a concept in Feng Shui known as the "Riding the Dragon" layout. This is the brilliance of the Feng Shui design.
*Cover picture from https://www.worldfinance.com/wealth-management/hsbc-keeps-abreast-of-developments-in-hong-kongs-insurance-industry
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