Fung Su is an ancient Chinese philosophy for sustainable land management that considers interactions between human and natural factors. It uses a multi-scale approach to classify landscapes based on their three-dimensional forms and landform processes. The goal is to identify ideal landscapes that guide the flow of energy (gi) in a self-organized way. Human interventions aim to enhance, not disrupt, these natural evolutionary pathways. The framework provides lessons for holistically managing complex human-environment systems in a way that is transferable to different conditions.

1. Fung Su and Self-organized
Landforms:
An Old but New Conceptual
Framework for Sustainable Land
Management
Park, Soo Jin
Department of Geography, Seoul
National University

2. Emerging Issues in SLM research and
My Research Question
 Land degradation processes are results of complex
interactions among Human and Environmental variables,
and also among internal and external factors.
 Interactions in a coupled H-E systems cause non-linear and
unexpected outputs → complex and adaptive system (e.g.
Reynolds et al., 2011; Poulsen, 2013)
C
)
 Conventional reductionists’and patch-based approaches are
not enough to handle such a complex H-E systems
-> Can we learn any lessons from Asian geographical
philosophy that has more than 2,000 years history ?

3. What is Fung Su ( 風水 ) ?
風 水
Feng Shui in Chinese
Fung Su in Korean
(Wind and Water)
"the unique and highly systemized ancient Chinese art of
selecting auspicious sites and arranging harmonious
C
structures such as graves, houses, and cities on them by
)
evaluation the surrounding landscape and cosmological
directions (Yoon, 2006)".
Modern interpretation of Fung Su is controversial, varying
widely from superstition and pseudo-science to a
harmonious way of living with nature (Neeham, 1962; Choi,
2006).

4. “A Harmonious Way of Living with Nature”
Rugged terrains with strong climatic seasonality and devastating
typhoons have certainly been the major threats for agricultural
productions and land management.
C
)
Photo: Kangwon Ilbo

5. “A Harmonious Way of Living with Nature”
Harsh climatic and geomorphological conditions require specific
land management methods to avoid disastrous results → Fung
Su is widely considered as an accumulated traditional land
management knowledge
Photo: Chosun Ilbo

6. Structure and Key Elements of Fung Su
Human Dimension Natural Dimension
Connection and Multi-scale
Donggigameung-ron Interpretation of
responsibility between
generations ( 同氣感應論 ) environmental factors
Gan Ryong ( 看龍 )
Active Roles Holistic and 3D (observing dragon)
of Land Interpretation of
C Owner Landscape Jang Pung ( 藏風 )
) (storing wind)
Sojugilhyoong-ron Hyung Kuk ( 形局 ) Duk Su ( 得水 )
( 所主吉凶論 ) (form and site) (gaining water)
Human
intervention to Jeong Hyul ( 定穴 )
make an ideal (locating cave)
Hyungkuk
Sajumyungri-hak Bi Bo ( 裨補 ) Jwa Hyang ( 坐向 )
( 四柱命理學 ) (help to replenish) (setting direction)

7. Hyung Kuk ( 形局 ): Searching for an Ideal
Landscape
- The aim of Hyung Kuk is to Peak of
Ancester
identify a three-dimensional
landform shape that guide and
accumulate the Gi ( 氣 ) for an
auspicious site; Outer
White Tiger
Outer
White Tiger Azure Dragon
-The ideal landform condition Azure Dragon
identified for a cave and bright Cave
Water Course
court is a place that is Bright court
surrounded by hills shaped like
a horseshoe or an armchair
(Yoon, 2011); Table mountain
(Red Bird)
-The final ideal landforms is a
drainage basin with sufficient Homage
Mountain
flat area inside.
Source: Choi, C.J. (1990)

8. Hyung Kuk ( 形局 ) and Its Environmental
Interpretation
Black Tortoise:
- Inducing water and materials into the
bright court
- Providing forest products
- Preventing cold northwesterly wind
Azure Dragon and White Tiger:
- Inducing water and materials into the bright court
- Preventing strong wind from sides;
- Maintaining moisture and temperature balance within the bright court
- Isolating the bright court from outside
Narrow Water Mouth
- Reducing outflow of water and materials from the bright court
- Maintaining the groundwater table within the bright court
- Accumulating materials within the bright court
- Protecting the bright court from outside

9. Hyung Kuk ( 形局 ) at different spatial scale
Village City
Grave (Chunghak-dong) (an old map of Seoul)
Old
Seoul
The proportion of the ideal Fung Su Hyun Kuk is less than
5% of the total land surface in Korea (Park, 2009), but it
hosted more than 60% of traditional villages in the later
Chosun dynasty (Jung, 2008).

10. Evolution of Ideal Hyung Kuk in Korea
Formation of
Ideal Hyung Kuk L3
(L1 < L2) L2
L1
L3
L2
L1 plain
L3
L2
L1
Before Uplift or sea level change Lowering of base level
Formation of Valley
(L1 = L2)
 Korean Landforms are the results of complex interactions
between gradual tectonic uplift, bedrocks, and climatic
change
 The formation of Ideal Hyung Kuk is one of typical
development pathways of Korean landforms

11. Evolution of Ideal Hyung Kuk in Korea
3.5
3
2.5
유역수 (Log10)
2
1.5
y = - 1.1203x + 5.2876
2
1 R = 0.9965
0.5
0
1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
면적 (log10 km2)
 The ideal Hyung Kuk is the
result of self-organization of
landform forming processes,
which shows a clear scale-free
fractal dimension

12. Bi bo ( 裨補 ) : Human contribution to
complete the Ideal Landscape
 A perfect Fung Su Hyung Kuk
without any shortcomings is
extremely rare. Consequently,
people remedy minor defects
Reservoir and village forest
of landscape
 Bi Bo methods include
사진출처 : 이도원 building hills, building
symbolic artifacts, changing
the direction of water flow,
Village forest
and assigning geomantically
appropriate names to places
Reservoir, village forests (Choi (1984), Yoon (2011))

13. Deterministic Chaos and Fung Su,
A New Approach for Sustainable Land Management
1. Fung Su has a unique set of multi-scale approaches to classify the
hierarchical nature of environmental processes related to landscape
characteristics.
2. The most important aspect of Fung Su is to capture three-dimensional
forms of landscapes to characterize unique combinations of landform
forming processes, which shows a close resemblance to the
identification of scale-free, self-organized landforms in current
geomorphological studies.
3. Human interventions are mostly limited to enhance evolutionary
pathways of self-organization, which are called Bi Bo (making up for the
weak points) or Ab Sung (weakening the strong points)
4. Fung Su offers a unique conceptual framework to classify landscapes,
to characterize three-dimensional landform processes, and to manage
landscapes in a holistic manner, which can easily be transferable to
other environmental conditons