South (离)

The direction of fire — associated with visibility, summer and the middle daughter. South is the fire direction (离 Li). It is read as the direction of brightness and display, and in the Eight Mansions method it carries the reputation aspect.

Directions are read as a set, not one at a time. The direction of fire — associated with visibility, summer and the middle daughter. The preference for a south facing is the single most quoted rule in Chinese building practice, and the classical texts justify it climatically as much as symbolically.

Li sits at south in the Later Heaven arrangement. The tradition reads it as fire and therefore as the direction of what is seen — which is why favourable south-facing is one of the oldest and most consistent preferences in the sources. It is grouped under Fire (火) in the five-element system.