BEIJING -- A Shanghai organization has postponed plans to apply to make fengshui a "municipal intangible cultural heritage" after claiming biased news coverage reignited a controversy over its merits.

"I was pressured to stop the application before I finished it by a leader of Shanghai Social Sciences Association right after the local newspaper, Oriental Morning Post, released the story," said Zhang Liangren, vice chairman of the Shanghai Life Esthetics Association.

Zhang would not reveal the name of the leader, but he said the pressure began after the Oriental Morning Post published an allegedly slanted account of his application, which he planned to submit this month.

"The main reason why fengshui faces opposition is because many people and government officials think it is superstitious," Zhang said.

Widely practised in China for thousands of years, fengshui is commonly denigrated as a superstition rather than recognized as a cultural phenomenon by local government.

Fengshui means "wind and water" if directly translated from Chinese. It was also called Kanyu in ancient Chinese, meaning a geomantic omen applied to a building or a piece of land.

Traditionally, fengshui practitioners were usually consulted before construction or renovation of a building.

"Fengshui is a branch of science, rather than superstition," says the application of the Shanghai Life Esthetics Association, a member organization of Shanghai Social Sciences Association.

"As a building and location evaluation based on geology, landform and physiognomy, it is an important part of traditional Chinese culture," said Zhang.

He said applications in other east Asian countries triggered their action.

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