By Julie Chen Zhu
FREMONT, Calif. – While hundreds of economists and pundits pore over the latest depressing data on the sputtering Hong Kong economy, trying to figure out what went wrong, one man living half way around the world in the San Francisco Bay Area thinks he has the answer: bad vibes.
Peter Louis, an 81-year-old practitioner of the ancient Chinese art of "feng shui," blames it all on the aesthetic imbalance caused by the construction of a new airport in the former British colony.
According to Louis, the new airport, which opened in April last year, just as the crisis was biting, destroyed the territory's bowl-like structure, a structure which had preserved its wealth for more than 150 years of British rule.
"The shape of Hong Kong seen from the air, resembles a rice bowl – a very auspicious sign in feng shui," he says. "The construction of the airport has impeded the flow of wealth into the golden bowl."
Lucky for him, Louis's own golden bowl remains intact. The son of an affluent Chinese merchant, Louis migrated from Hong Kong to the United States in 1980 to ply his trade in California. Since then, the feng shui industry in the San Francisco Bay Area has boomed on the back of a huge influx of Asian immigrants.
Louis,
whose family name means thunder in Chinese, has earned the nickname of
Master Thunder from his clients and friends, who have been impressed by
his expertise.These days, Louis dispenses advice on everything from investment
strategies to approporiate burial sites. In 1995, when Joe Michels, director
of the Ladbroke Racing Corporation, was about to invest in the San Pablo
Card Club in the city of San Pablo, he hired Louis to look over the place.
Michels later incorporated Louis' suggestions for the club's layout, including
the erection of a huge golden ingot in the hallway to ensure cash flowed
freely into the club.
"New clients come to me nearly every week," says Louis. "They include executives of computer companies in Silicon Valley and influential San Francisco Chinatown officials."
The boom in feng shui has not been confined to the Asian community. Its popularity has also spread to other groups, who admire its philosophy of building man-made structures in harmony with the natural environment. That widening demand has put a premium on the likes of Louis. He charges $500 for individual fortune telling, but the cost of a two-week detailed inspection and consultation for business buildings can range from $5,000 to $10,000.
Still, feng shui is not just easy money, according to Louis. The art is based on the concept of "chi," the invisible force that represents universal energy. To those who follow Taoist philosophy, chi is the life force that creates the mountains, causes rivers to flow, and allows plants to thrive. The practice of feng shui involves choosing the right place to build, designing the architecture, even arranging the furniture in such a way that chi is maximized.
As with most Chinese trades, feng shui is a family business handed down from generation to generation. Louis is no exception. His maternal
READ ON: Louis combines his architecture background with feng shui
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