BRIEF HISTORY OF FENG-SHUI

Several thousand years ago, ancient China's shamans, diviners, and sage-kings laid down the three building blocks of feng-shui: the compass, the pa-k'ua (eight trigrams), and the theory of change (as presented in the I-Ching). Legend has it that during the time of the Yellow Emperor in prehistoric China, the compass was originally used for navigation.



This navigational compass would be modified later for use in feng-shui.
At the beginning of the Chou dynasty (1122-207 BCE), King Wen first used the pa-k'ua to describe patterns of change in the natural world. By the eighth century BCE, the Chinese were using the pa-k'ua and the theory of change to promote the flow of nourishing energy inside a city or a palace and thus bring the kingdom harmony and wealth.

K'an-yu / Yin- and Yang-domain Feng-shui
The Han dynasty (206 BCE-219 CE) saw the founding of the art of k'an-yu (k'an means "mountains"and yu means "low places"), or the study of the energy carried in landforms. K'an-yu was championed by the Taoists Huang-shih Kung and Ch'ing Wu, who argued that geological bodies, particularly mountains and rivers, are filled with vital energy. The pathways of energy in mountains are called dragon veins, while those in waterways are called water dragons.
The ancient Chinese thought the land's energy could make or break a kingdom. For instance, if the capital city was built on land with nourishing energy, the country would prosper; if it was built on land carrying malevolent energy, the country would suffer catastrophes. Likewise, if an emperor were buried on or near landforms with positive energy, his dynasty would last, and if he were buried on or near landforms with negative energy, his dynasty would fall. In fact, k'an-yu was first used only by emperors and nobles to select propitious burial sites. Not until the Chin dynasty (265-420 CE) did everyday citizens start using k'an-yu to choose sites for houses (yang-domain feng-shui) and burial grounds (yin-domain feng-shui).

Detail : http://www.shambhala.com/fengshui/fundamentals/history.cfm