So wind (feng) and water (shui) rhyme with business, putting Hong Kong a long way from Western Cartesianism. In China 4,000 years ago, light breezes and clear water were associated with good harvests and health, which today could be translated as yield and efficiency. Practitioners are adamant that this is a powerful tool, not a superstition. Feng shui is neither a religion nor a spiritual practice," explains Alex Yu, a renowned master. It is a quasi-mathematical knowledge aimed at achieving energy balance by harmonising the essential elements of water, earth, wood, fire and metal.
If you want to discover feng shui, Hong Kong is the place to be. Here, the art of harmonising living and working spaces is literally part of the local culture. But the practice only really took root in Hong Kong in the 1950s, when Mao wiped the slate clean of ancestral traditions in Communist China. "Feng shui is a formidable tool for understanding people, and Mao quickly got rid of all the experts who represented a potential threat to him," says Alex Yu. As a result, feng shui masters fled China and went into exile in Hong Kong. Today, over a third of Hong Kong's 7 million inhabitants believe in the effectiveness of feng shui and its ancestral methods. At the Taoist temple of Wong Tai Sin, as in many sacred places, there is a succession of small parlours where divination specialists officiate. Joyce Chan, who reads facial features and hand lines, claims that 30 % of her clients consult her for professional matters. "My techniques are very rational and mathematical; they are based on the principle of ying and yang and on calculations similar to those of feng shui", she insists. William Ng, a master of tai-chi, a martial art and meditation technique, emphasises the link between all this knowledge: "Tai-chi balances people, just as feng shui balances places". According to him, even the big banks offer courses to their employees to boost their efficiency and concentration.
Business leaders, banks, multinationals
In fact, a number of major retailers such as Zara, Cathay Pacific and Century 21 have no hesitation in employing these geomancers, as the specialists in this discipline are known. "A large proportion of my clients are company directors and managers, and even major banks and multinationals", says Raymond Lo, another renowned master. And yet, few businessmen and women admit to having recourse to a master to boost their performance. According to Chris Young, vice-president of Orioxi, whose Los Angeles and Hong Kong offices have just had a feng shui consultation, it is above all a question of ego. "Hierarchy is very important in China, and admitting that you employ a feng shui master is tantamount to saying that you're not good enough or intelligent enough to succeed on your own", he says. Others explain this discretion by the fact that feng shui, an extremely powerful tool, can be turned against you. With a simple date of birth, you can determine the essential elements of a personality and use them to influence and convince. Being discreet about your practices, giving a false date of birth or receiving clients in an impersonal negotiation room is commonplace. Because when you receive people in your office, you are already revealing a little of yourself...
The Oriental Mandarin lobby
While the use of feng shui at an individual professional level - with large companies 'fengshuising' the offices of decision-makers in particular - remains a private matter, it is in the interests of large institutions to publicise their use of feng shui. However elegant and luxurious they may be, hotels will never attract Chinese customers if they do not officially employ the services of a geomancer. In the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental, for example, a statue of a unicorn is enthroned. Its role: to chase away bad chi (energy). Often, a pair of lions - female and male, yin and yang - stand guard at the entrance to hotels and banks to ensure their prosperity and protection. Such is the case with the famous HSBC headquarters, built in 1985 by architect Norman Foster, and arguably the most feng shui building in the city. With a mountain at the back in the role of the protective dragon, a series of buildings on either side symbolising the yin and yang lions and, opposite, an open space leading to the water of Victoria Harbour, the HSBC combines all the most propitious feng shui elements. Its inauguration date was chosen with care. In Hong Kong, the date of a product launch or shop opening is never chosen lightly. At the moment, the number 8 is the most popular. Feng shui works in twenty-year periods," explains Alex Yu, "and in 2004 we entered a period when 8 is very favourable. But you still have to know how to use this invaluable 8 wisely. Hong Kong may be a hotbed of feng shui, but the practice is now widespread in the West. Raymond Lo divides his time between Hong Kong and airports. "I give talks in Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Moscow, Berlin and even Paris", he says, adding that "more and more Westerners want to make feng shui their profession", as does Jill Lander, former vice-president of the Hong Kong Businesswomen's Association. This British woman came to China in the 1970s and studied for twelve years before becoming a master. "As a European, it wasn't easy to establish myself as a feng shui practitioner among the Chinese", she explains. But feng shui isn't just her job, it's above all her passion. Like many others, she notes that half her clients come to her for advice "for business". This is hardly surprising, given the promised results: more inspired, faster and more efficient employees, lower absenteeism rates, harmonious human relations, fewer and less serious mistakes, and skyrocketing productivity and profits. "Feng shui is a real win-win situation," she concludes like a true businesswoman.
