Hong Kong Investment Immigration listens to the voice of Hong Kong: Over the past decade, a Feng Shui craze has swept through Hong Kong. When the government, universities, and the wealthy make major decisions, they often rely on the advice of Feng Shui masters. A high-ranking Hong Kong official once joked that while it was often said in the past that one would surely prosper by becoming one of the 'three professionals'—lawyers, accountants, or doctors—it now seems that the ones who are truly 'prospering' are the Feng Shui masters.
The Connection Between Two Chief Executives and Feng Shui
In Hong Kong, two rumors are very popular, telling of the inescapable connection between two Chief Executives and Feng Shui. Long before taking office, Mr. Tung Chee-hwa hired a Feng Shui master to assess the Feng Shui of the former Government House. Finding it unfavorable, he refused to move in and insisted on living in his own home. Regarding this, the Chief Executive's assistant explained solemnly that "it is good for Hong Kong" and "it is better to believe in it than not." However, the talk of Feng Shui did not end there. In 2002, when Tung Chee-hwa was running for re-election for a second term as Chief Executive, although he had already secured enough nominations early on, he still specifically chose an auspicious date and time—12:00 noon on February 19—to submit his application form to the Electoral Affairs Office, which raised suspicions. It was only after asking a geomancer that the truth was revealed. It turned out that Tung Chee-hwa was born in the Year of the Ox; that day was a 'Ding' day (a day when developments are complex), the five elements of the day were Earth, and 12:00 noon was Fire. Fire generates Earth, which creates an aura of dominance; those who enter politics on that day can defeat others, making it difficult for anyone else to emerge as a candidate. The subsequent fact was that Tung Chee-hwa was the only candidate that year and was elected Chief Executive with a high number of votes.
Three years later, it was Donald Tsang's turn to take office in 2005. Outsiders thought that as a devout Catholic, he would certainly not believe in Feng Shui. Unexpectedly, as soon as Donald Tsang took office, he also paid out of his own pocket to hire a Feng Shui master to assess the Feng Shui of the Government House and provide guidance. This even led to a minor controversy. In addition to Legislative Council President Rita Fan receiving an anonymous report, many celebrities in the city also received a Feng Shui CD that depicted the halls, bedrooms, gardens, and gates of the Government House in meticulous detail. The story of a Catholic consulting a Feng Shui master immediately became the best entertainment for Hong Kong citizens to discuss over tea. Coincidentally, after Donald Tsang took office, Hong Kong's economy continued to improve, the unemployment rate fell month by month, and the stock market rose day by day. "Donald Tsang has good luck!" This view spread rapidly in Hong Kong political circles for a time. The seriousness with which the two Hong Kong Chief Executives and political figures treat Feng Shui reflects, to a greater or lesser extent, the popularity of the Feng Shui industry in Hong Kong.
Feng Shui is Part of Hong Kong Life
For a long time, not only for the Chief Executive, but Feng Shui and numerology have also been a part of the lives of Hong Kong people. For example, when someone in the family passes away, Hong Kong citizens always want to find a burial site with good Feng Shui. Besides hoping that the deceased can rest in peace, it also carries the deep meaning of blessing future generations. In daily life, the theory of Feng Shui is even more widely applied and has even become a key factor for people when making decisions. When many Hong Kong people buy property, in addition to considering price and location, they also consider whether the house has good Feng Shui. Even some Hong Kong tycoons who are extremely Westernized in their thinking are even deeper believers. Lee Shau-kee, Chairman of Henderson Land and the second-richest person on the Hong Kong rich list, is a devout Taoist. His master is Ren Farong, President of the China Taoist Association. Lee Shau-kee once revealed that his relationship with Ren Farong is "both teacher and friend," and that the Feng Shui arrangements and divination suggested by the other party are "right nine times out of ten," so he adopts all the Feng Shui arrangements suggested by him. Richard Li, the son of Hong Kong's richest man, who is young and Westernized, is the same; not only does he find a Feng Shui master to choose auspicious dates and times for major business deals, but even when meeting business friends for dinner, Richard Li also has to choose the date and time.
But the most eye-catching was Nina Wang, the richest woman in Hong Kong. During her illness, she, who had always been frugal to the point of being harsh, followed the advice of a Feng Shui master and transported tons of petrified wood from the mainland to her office. It is said that petrified wood stores the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which can absorb negative energy and change the aura. She also sought advice from Feng Shui master Yu Zhilin on "planting Shengji" (a ritual to improve one's fortune). Yu Zhilin suggested that as long as one chooses a site with good Feng Shui to build a grave, and then buries one's blood, fingernails, and personal clothing together, one can gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to change one's luck. Nina Wang's Shengji site is located on Xingdao Lake in Hepu County, Guangxi. It faces "nine-curved water," implying the gathering of wealth, and is backed by seven or eight layers of mountains, symbolizing a solid backing. The stone tablet was inscribed in red with "Nina Wang's Shengji Blessed Land" and was completed in 2005 at a total cost of 160,000 yuan. Unfortunately, in the end, it was all in vain. However, even so, the Feng Shui trend in the circle of the wealthy continues to grow.
Disney Also Listens to Feng Shui Masters
As for the foreigners and foreign firms in Hong Kong, under the influence of their surroundings, they have also developed a preference for Feng Shui, one of the traditional Chinese cultures. For many large foreign companies opening in Hong Kong, in addition to roasting a pig to worship the gods and burning incense to pray for blessings, finding a geomancer to avoid bad luck and finding a Feng Shui master to arrange the layout to ward off evil spirits has almost become a standard procedure. Hong Kong Disneyland, which opened in September 2005, is a typical example. As the saying goes, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." This company from the United States deliberately designed many parts of its layout according to Feng Shui, including changing the park entrance gate to a diagonal arrangement and changing the pedestrian paths from the Disneyland station to the entrance and the pier to a slight curve to ensure that after the park opened, it could gather the wealth within the park and prevent it from flowing into the sea. The two Disney hotels located next to the park are no exception. To ensure that "positive energy" can flow, decorations with water as the design theme, such as water walls and fountains, can be seen everywhere in the hotel's restaurants and lounges. In addition, Disney also followed Hong Kong customs and tried to avoid the number "four" (which sounds like "death"). Neither of the two hotels has a fourth floor, and the room numbers on each floor of the Hollywood Hotel also start with the auspicious "628," trying to avoid the number "four." The grand ballroom in the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel is also full of Chinese wisdom in its size, with a total area of 888 square meters, implying "prosper, prosper, prosper," and the Chinese restaurant "Crystal Lotus" also features 2,258 (meaning "easy, easy, birth, prosperity") crystal lotus flowers.
Feng Shui Masters Have a Bright "Financial Future"
An ancient Chinese proverb says: "First is fate, second is luck, third is Feng Shui, fourth is accumulating virtue, and fifth is education." In the concepts of the ancients, Feng Shui occupied a very important position, even ranking higher than education. But in fact, Hong Kong Feng Shui studies were initially not considered respectable. It was only after the 1997 handover, when the Asian financial crisis, SARS, and other storms frequently struck, that many Hong Kong people felt the impermanence of fate, and thus the Feng Shui profession began to flourish. Many Hong Kong people flocked to it, and some even specifically studied Feng Shui to make it their profession. Among the Feng Shui apprentices, Zhou Hanming, a Feng Shui master who is also the owner of the "Hang Heung" dessert shop, is a successful case of a common person successfully transforming into a Feng Shui master. Zhou Hanming had studied various Feng Shui books since he was a child and enrolled in various Feng Shui study classes. When camping in middle school, he would take turns "reading faces" for his classmates. At that time, he couldn't sleep at night during every school trip because classmates were lining up for him to tell their fortunes. Since then, Zhou Hanming accumulated one client after another and worked part-time as a Feng Shui master in his spare time. In 1984, he left the familiar garment industry and became a full-time Feng Shui master. He hit the nail on the head about how attractive the income of a Feng Shui master is. Master Zhou said: "In the first month of changing careers, my income was already more than when I was in the garment industry."