Ancient emperors always sat with the north facing south and the north facing south, because the south was a bright place, which was called governing Ming. The same is true for residential buildings, because there is more indoor lighting time.
As early as the primitive society, our ancestors built village houses in the direction of sitting north facing south, and most of the houses discovered by archaeology faced south. In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the direction of measurement was the first step in choosing the environment. The poem Gongliu says: The scenery is just a hill, and its yin and yang are harmonious. Later, Chao Hun, a politician of the Han Dynasty, proposed. When choosing a city site, we should "match its yin and yang, taste its water springs and judge its suitability. This is a strange place." Northern Yin, Southern Yang, Northern Yin, Southern Yang. Sitting facing south is not only for lighting, but also to avoid the north wind. The topography of China determines that its air is seasonal. There is a cold current in northwest Asia in winter, a cool breeze in the Pacific Ocean in summer, and the direction of monsoon changes all year round. There is a record of wind measurement in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The Historical Records says: "Evil winds live in the northwest and arrive in October. The factory lives in the north, and it is also November. The wind lives in the northeast, and the first month is also. The Ming people lived in the east and in February. The Qingming wind lives in the southeast dimension, also in April. The scenery is in the south, and it is also May. The cool breeze lives in the southwest, and it is also June. Occasionally the wind blows in the west, and it is also September. " There is a difference between evil wind and yang wind. Gou Guangguoting wrote in his book Critique of Earth Science to the South: "Pingyang is not afraid of the wind, but there is a difference between Yin and Yang. It happens that people exposed in the east and south directions are warm, which is called yang wind. The cold wind from west to north is called Ming wind, and there is a blue case. Otherwise, the wind will blow the bones and the main family will decline. " This means avoiding the northwest wind. There are several ways to express the orientation of landscape painting: first, take the five elements of wood as the east, fire as the south, gold as the west, water as the north and soil as the center; Second, the height of Bagua is south, the ridge is north, the earthquake is east, but it is west. Third, take Party A and Party B on the calendar as the east, Party D as the south, Geng Xin as the west and Gui Ren as the north. Take the son of the earthly branch as the north and the noon as the south. Fourth, the east is black dragon, the west is white tiger, the south is suzaku, and the north is Xuanwu. Or: "Left Qinglong, right White Tiger, Former Suzaku, Later Xuanwu." In short, the principle of facing south is to correctly understand natural phenomena, conform to heaven, gain the aura of mountains and rivers, be influenced by the brilliance of the sun and the moon, care for the body, cultivate sentiment and excel.