"Feng" means "wind" and "shui" means "water" (pronounced fung-shway). In Chinese culture gentle wind and clear water have always been associated with good harvest and good health, thus "good feng shui" came to mean good livelihood and fortune, while "bad feng shui" came to mean hardship and misfortune.

The concept of Feng Shui is not very different from Vaastu. The principle behind both are the same. Chinese refer to Chi as the cosmic breath and recognize that there is a male (positive) force and a female (negative) force which they call ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang’. Just as Vaastu recognizes that the entire universe is made up of five basic elements, the Chinese also recognize the five elements.
In Vaastu, the five elements are earth, water, air, fire and space(aakash). In Feng Shui the five elements are designated as earth, water, fire, wood and metal. Both sciences believe that the building should be oriented towards the north-south direction.

Historic evidence strongly suggests that  Vaastu is the source of Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is the art of placement - a guiding philosophy to bring harmony by looking at our environments and how the balance of energies can affect every part of life. It is a complex body of knowledge that reveals how to balance the energies of any given space to assure the health and good fortune for people inhabiting it.

Feng Shui is based on the Taoist vision and understanding of nature, particularly on the idea that the land is alive and filled with Chi, or energy. The ancient Chinese believed that the land's energy could either make or break the kingdom, so to speak. The theories of yin and yang, as well as the five Feng Shui elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water) are some of the basic aspects of a Feng Shui analysis that come from Taoism.

Feng Shui concentrates on life energies and strives for a correction of energetic blockages, Vaastu goes much further, incorporating many more principles thus firmly establishing the relationship between the house and its inhabitants.