'Feng shui' belief still drives Asian businesses

'Feng shui' belief still drives Asian businesses

By Anil Penna

SINGAPORE (AFP): When a famous Western hotel chain found its
Singapore property was not faring as well as expected, it called
in a practitioner of feng shui, the ancient Chinese technique of
geomancy.

The expert studied the location, architecture, floor plan and
interior design of the building and advised management there was
a simple solution: install a water fountain near the main
entrance.

The advice was accepted, problem solved and the hotel began
packing them in, geomancer George Koh said in an anecdote
illustrating the hold of feng shui over businesses in many Asian
countries where the Chinese influence is strong.

"In layman's terms, it is basically about getting a right
combination of wind and water," Koh said of the Chinese
metaphysical technique practiced in such countries as Singapore,
Hong Kong and Taiwan besides mainland China.

Koh's clients include a large French bank, an international
broking house and a major car rental agency, and he says Western
businesses entering Asia are becoming "customized" to the
practice.

He advises about 10-15 clients a month on matters ranging from
the direction of the entrance and the location of the offices of
the chief executive and the financial controller, to lighting and
color schemes.

Feng shui -- the two words mean wind and water -- deals with
the influence of the environment, including the earth, the
landscape, the ocean and rivers and human dwellings, on human
fortune.

"The universe is our environment, and we are ultimately
affected by the forces of nature existing in our environment.
Such forces of nature are able to affect our destiny," according
to Hong Kong-based feng shui expert, Raymond Lo.

Lo, who is also known as "Feng Shui Lo" and has authored
several books on the practice, quotes an old Cantonese saying:
"Destiny comes first, luck second, and feng shui third."

"You can't control your destiny and luck. But feng shui you
can control, it is positive" said Lo, who was in Singapore to
lecture Western retailers and developers at the Asia-Pacific
convention of the shopping-center industry.

"If you expose yourself to good influences, you are in for
prosperity. You have to try to identify where such influences
are, from which direction they are coming," the expert said.

In his latest book Feng Shui and Destiny for Managers, he
gives the example of Hong Kong property tycoon and billionaire Li
Ka-shing, saying feng shui enhances "good destiny if applied
wisely."

"As Mr. Li was destined to become a rich man ... he could
still have become a millionaire. With the support of good feng
shui, his wealth multiplied and today, he is much more than just
a millionaire."

The most common application of feng shui is in the selection
of business premises, with many commercial buildings designed in
consultation with geomancers.

Lo says the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building in Hong
Kong's central district is a prominent example of a good feng
shui environment, both physical and intangible, guaranteeing
prosperity for the bank until at least 2023.

For retailers, selecting a prosperous building is especially
essential to ensure their business's popularity, and there are
buildings they must avoid, he says.

A road with a curved edge facing a building, for instance, is
considered inauspicious feng shui because it symbolizes the blade
of a sword cutting through a building.

A pair of lion statues standing near the entrance is thought
to safeguard the good luck of the building and chase away evil
spirits.

Singapore geomancer Koh attributes the misfortune of a couple
of prominent retailers who are now in the red to the stronger
feng shui of another shopping center nearby.

"It is absorbing all the surrounding good fortune," Koh said.