Geomancers embrace earthly intervention

HONG KONG - This city’s fortune-tellers and geomancers have considered the future of their ancient art and come up with a dire prognostication: Unless they clean up their act, they have no future. And it didn’t take a crystal ball or ominous astrological warnings to figure that out.

Responding to a long-running string of financial and sex scandals involving alleged practitioners of what the Chinese call feng shui masters, Hong Kong’s most prominent soothsayers are now calling for the establishment of a monitoring body - like those that already exist in the city for professionals such as doctors and lawyers - to assure that the geomancy being practiced here is the real deal rather than some charlatan’s interpretation of their increasingly tainted field of expertise.

There are an estimated 50,000 people practicing or studying feng shui in the city, and 80 of them - including well-known masters such as Szeto Fat-ching, James Lee Shing-chak and Ma Lai-wah - have agreed to join the proposed association. Szeto, who has his own feng shui show on television, will serve as its first chairman.

As it is now envisioned, the group - to be called the International Taoist Metaphysics Association - will attempt to standardize the practice of fortune-telling and geomancy, recommend reasonable fees to be charged by practitioners, accept and act on complaints and even offer free services to those on welfare. Moreover, and perhaps more to the point, the association will promote Hong Kong as the world capital for legitimate feng shui.  Read Article

By Kent Ewing