Wind of change blows for feng shui masters
Print Edition
Though living in the poverty-stricken outskirts of Taiyuan City, north China’s Shanxi Province, Zhang Fanian can bring in up to 100,000 yuan (US$16,100) a day as a feng shui master.
While fellow villagers toil in the fields, Zhang is one of a few masters in the practice in the area who make a living by telling fortunes.
It’s a lucrative business, Zhang said, as people who believe in feng shui usually offer large sums in exchange for his fortune-telling services.
“Sometimes I can even make a million yuan out of a single deal,” Zhang recently said.
But feng shui experts like Zhang may soon have to bid farewell to their high-income lifestyles after Shanxi’s provincial government launched a two-month-long purge of feudalism and superstition in rural areas.
The campaign specifically targets feng shui masters, local shamans and witches as the province attempts to eliminate “superstitious activities.”
Inspection teams will make surprise visits to the countryside, looking for anything that violates China’s religion policies, particularly commercial activities, said officials.
If discovered, these will be recorded and those involved punished in line with the newly published guidelines by the Shanxi provincial Civilization Office.
Meanwhile, a variety of pro-science events will be held in Shanxi’s rural areas to popularize scientific knowledge to reason against superstition, said officials.
Many believe that the crackdown could mean a big blow to local feng shui practitioners. Feng shui — which translates as “wind and water” and involves the study of geomantic omens, usually in buildings and cemeteries — has been practiced in China for thousands of years.
Experts are usually consulted before the construction or renovation of a building. Though the government has never banned the practice officially, feng shui is defined in Chinese dictionaries as “superstitious beliefs in ancient China.”
The latest developments are the subject of heated online debate, with one post attracting some 20,000 comments by lunchtime yesterday.
Online opinion is divided on the issue. While many say feng shui is superstitious, others say that even the construction of government buildings often involves feng shui techniques.
Experts say that while anti-superstition initiatives are necessary, authorities should be careful in differentiating between superstition and cultural activities.
Chang Sixin, deputy head of the China Folk Literature and Art Society, said there have been numerous fraud cases in the name of fortune telling, adding significance of the latest government move. But he also emphasized the necessity of defining traditional culture and religious beliefs.
Tan Kejian, deputy head of the sociology department of Shanxi’s Academy of Social Sciences, also cautioned that authorities should respect cultural and religious activities when the campaign is conducted.
The researcher said people should learn to differentiate between superstition and traditional culture, and that the government should ramp up science and education levels in the countryside and improve people’s livelihoods.
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