"Feng Shui is the Chinese practice of living in harmony with nature and energy of the surrounding environment which naturally leads to the art of placement, not only of buildings, but also of everything within them."
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I will illustrate this with a story:
There was a small town at the Fu2 Jian4 Province of China, the villagers have decided to build a china (or chinaware) Kiln ("Shao1 Yao2" in Chinese).
A kiln would require a chimney. The chimney must be constructed at a proper place, it cannot be constructed too high or too low from the ground for air pollution concern.
At a town meeting the elders gathered to discuss about this matter, they are trying to resolve a problem: where should the kiln be built and how high should the chimney be?
It is difficult to reach decision when everyone has his/her say. So there was no decision made. But a resolution was passed to engage a Feng Shui practitioner to handle this matter.
The respectful Mr. Feng Shui Practitioner wore a traditional Dao4 Shi4 (Taoist) hat and gown. There was a big altar, on the altar laid a big bundle of Yin paper money and a pair of candles. The people waited until the right auspicious time had arrived, then the ceremony begun, the practitioner burnt incense, the Yin paper money and he also threw some Yin paper money up to the sky, they were thrown very high, so high that some of them were blown far away.
The rite came to an end, Mr. Feng Shui Practitioner has decided where to build the kiln and how high the chimney should be. The elders and the villagers were happy, the Feng Shui Practitioner gained more respect.
That ends the story.
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What is the moral behind the story? I am sure most of you would have spotted it, but to save unnecessary email being sent to me, I better explain it here: On the face of it, the Taoist's rite is superstitious, but if one examines closely, the Dao4 Shi4 is actually performing the role of an town-planner/architect. The burning of incense is to find out the direction of the wind, throwing yin money paper sky high is to test the strength of the wind at different height, this is to find out how high the chimney should be built in order that the smoke emitted would not affect/pollute the villagers.
Actually, every modern town-planner/architect has to perform a "site analysis", including the properties of the soil, the climate, the rainfall, environment and direction before building a township. That is EXACTLY what a Feng Shui Practitioner does in the old day.