On May 7th, I posted a blog about the ancient Trypillian culture (dated back 7500 years ago) along the Dnipro River in Kiev, Ukraine.  I mentioned that most of the ancient villages were located on the right-hand side of the river, facing downstream.   We find this consistent in the traditional feng shui concept, recognizing that land on the right-hand side was more auspicious.   But why it this so?  I have challenged students to come up with an explanation and have been waiting for the correct answer.  However, it may be time to provide the explanation:

From the city’s point of view, which is the energy spot, the left-hand side is the yang side or the blue dragon guardian, while the right-hand side, also known as the white tiger guardian, is the yin side.  The yang side is more dynamic while the yin side is more static.  Since the river is more dynamic than land, ideally you want to have the river on the left-hand side of your village.  Therefore, it is natural that the village is on the right-hand side of the river.  Ancient people were intuitively following the natural principles, the feng shui principle, thus they chose to settle on the more auspicious right-hand side of the river.  This holds true for both the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere.  If you check the  big cities around the world which sit along a large river, you will find the majority of cities are on the right-hand side of the river.