A Spiritual And Superstitious Emperor

The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Qin Shi Huang) is located in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province of China.

This mausoleum is situated underneath a 76-meter-tall tomb shaped like a truncated pyramid. The layout of the mausoleum is modelled on the Qin capital Xianyang, and divided into inner and outer cities. The mausoleum is one of the largest underground mausoleums in the world with the inner city spanning 2.5 km and the outer city spanning 6.3 km.

There were many conspiracy theories on why the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum has bad Feng Shui. Stories had been spread that the Feng Shui Master employed by Qin Shi Huang lacked Feng Shui knowledge. Others believed that the Feng Shui Master selected a bad plot for Qin Shi Huang out of hatred for his tyranny. However, the simpler explanation could be that the use of Feng Shui at the time was still in its infancy. Thus, it is not surprising that the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum was not built in accordance to auspicious Feng Shui principles.

Qin Shi Huang was spiritual and extremely superstitious. He was believed to have sent Xu Fu, an alchemist and spiritual master, to seek the elixir of life. He also sent an alchemist to destroy Nanjing using black magic. People who came up with the conspiracy theories may have been born many generations later when Feng Shui had been popularised by Taoist Monks. They may have mistakenly believed that the spiritual masters of the Qin Dynasty were also well-versed in Feng Shui.