Fig. 105: Plan of The Palace of the First Emperor

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Chinese tradition tells us how the first emperor designed his palace according to the 3 x 3 square, the central room his shrine (fig. 105. The palace was placed in the centre of the city, which was divided according to the same plan. The province was arranged in like fashion, with the capital at the centre; the country was divided into nine provinces, the middle one being the province of the emperor himself (fig. 106). And according to the ancient Chinese tradition, China was at the navel of the world, a traditional view supported by the Irish, Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, Persians, and Hebrews, who all felt the same about their respective native lands.

In diagrammatic form we have five concentric squares (fig. 107), representing shrine, palace, capital, province, city, world.

Fig. 106: Nested 3x3 square grids

Fig. 107: Five nested squares