— February 19th —
Google Map seems more like a way to “lay out” information, the potential under information is “comparison” and “evolving”. Comparison though, seems more interesting to show. Two ideas in my mind, both have something to deal with supernatural (or mysterious..) genres.
1. Wu Xing (or Quintessence)— Wu Xing is a Chinese philosophy to describe phenomena, and to show different relationships between things. It is a practice in many fields such as Feng shui, astrology, traditional Chinese medicine, music, military strategy and martial arts. It is really broad so I was just thinking about showing different geography and their “Five Cardinal Points”. just draw out different stars on Google Map. It was quite boring, but quite interesting research~
So in geography. The five elements of Wu Xing will be located at:
- Water — North — Black Tortoise — Black
- Fire — South —Vermilion Bird — Red
- Wood — East — Azure Dragon — Green
- Metal — West — White Tiger — White
- Earth — Zenith — Yellow Qilin — Yellow
And the geography of China for example:
- The east is close to the ocean, and the weather is humid, ideal for trees (wood) to grow. View from the world map, it usually shows green.
- The South is close to the equator, it is usually hot (fire), the color is red.
- The Zenith of China is the Loess Plateau, full of yellow earth.
- The West is mostly deserts, and mines (metals). The deserts are famous for their white sand.
- The North of China is famous for its black soil. A lot of ice (water), cold weather.
The idea of Wu Xing really matches China’s geography, but it doesn’t really match with every part of the world though….
