Feng Shui – the Chinese philosophy of placing, siting and designing a building so that it is in harmony with everything that surrounds it – has been practised in China for several thousand years. It became so deeply rooted in Chinese traditional architecture that the basic principles of building – symmetry, balance and orientation – were based on its concept. The practice of Feng Shui is cited in texts dating from the 3rd century and is still in use in the modern world – Sir Norman Foster made numerous changes to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong after consulting an expert in Feng Shui.