The Economics of Feng-Shui

A Korean company says the oriental art of feng-shui is about more than just moving your wardrobe and putting crystals around your house- it can be applied to businesses, too.
 I have a Korean-American friend who has lived in the US all her life. Although she is ethnically Korean, she does not know much about important days on the Korean calendar. One day, she referred to "Chuseok" as "Thanksgiving day." It always disappointed me that a person in her position had never really tried to learn about her own culture. To me, she always seemed to think and act like a white Westerner, even though she looked typically Korean. However, I was surprised when, one day, she started telling me about something very Asian indeed, something I was ashamed that I knew nothing about: feng-shui.
These days, even in the US, you can find a bunch of books about feng-shui, the ancient Chinese art of improving your life by focusing on allowing chi to flow through your living space, standing closely together on the shelf of any bookstore. Apparently, the White House and the Headquarters of the U.N. are arranged according to the theories of feng -shui, which claims to be a scientific approach to the theory of divination based on topography. Feng-shui consulting in America is treated as a professional career and experts can be paid anywhere from $3,000 to $50,000 for a consultation. However, in Korea, there are not many people who recognize feng-shui as a profession. In this kind of atmosphere, experts say that the time has come for Koreans to start taking feng-shui a little more seriously.
What is feng-shui?
Doctor Kang Hwan-woong, the chief director of Korean Feng-Shui Institution says, "To sum up feng-shui briefly, we can say that it is the study of conditions for people to live well, in a way that is in harmony with nature. In Korea, the extent of feng-shui is mainly manifested in the importance Koreans attach to finding a good burial site. It is an idea influenced by Chinese superstitious knowledge, which emphasized that choosing the proper burial site for your deceased relatives would bring good fortune to their offspring. This superstition still survives in Korean culture today." Feng-shui studies in Korea were originally well-intentioned. However, Kang says it quickly degraded into superstition, to the extent that contemporary Korean feng-0shui scholars are treated with skepticism, looked down on as though they were practicing some kind of witch doctory.
However, some elements of feng-shui, other than burial arrangements, have crept into the Korean subconscious. But how "correct" is the common knowledge feng-shui that Koreans unconsciously have? Many Korean people commonly think that a house directly facing the South will bring good fortune to its occupants. According to Kang, the amount of chi in such a situation can be calculated from sunlight levels and Korean topography. The best timing for sunlight is between 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The sunlight in this period can be called "mild sunlight." This sunlight is good for all living creatures. Considering the fact that Korea is so mountainous, it is judged that a house facing southeast is better than just south for feng-shui experts. Nonetheless, people who persistently look for properties facing directly south are still suffering under the influences of Chinese Sino centrism, say insiders.
Kang says,"In the past, noblemen in Korea were mostly open-minded to Chinese knowledge, but ignorant of original Korean knowledge in areas like practical science. Accordingly, Koreans have long been fond of Chinese fatalism and graveyard ideas. However, feng-shui takes into account each country's unique circumstances. People have to consider their geographical surroundings." By a way of example, you can compare Korea with America. In America, on the eastern side, what feng-shui calls the site of the "blue green dragon," they have a small range of mountains, and on the western side, the site of the "white tiger," lie the huge Rocky Mountain range. In contrast, the Korean peninsula has a large range of mountains on its eastern side, and smaller hills on the western side. Generally, the blue green dragon represents the masculine and fame, and white tiger symbolizes the feminine and money. In Korea, men and fame have weighed much more than women and money.
So what makes a good living place and burial site for Kang? He emphasizes the importance of "the flow of energy", or chi. Korean topography, with its many mountains and valleys shows that Korea was originally made up from volatile volcanic activities. As a volcano erupts several times, magma piles were stacked up, one by one, across what is now Korea. In this process, the land was made much in the shape of the letter "z". The vertexes of the z-shaped land mean that both projecting and sunken parts of the "z" are where energy naturally gathers. Kang says,"If you build your house or bury your ancestors in these areas, it would be for the best. These areas' features are unique, as snow melts there first in late winter. Animals know these areas well and tend to flock to them to mate. People usually think that building houses on flat areas with a lot of sunlight is good. But that theory is more reliable in China, not so much so in Korea.
What are the influences of feng-shui on the economy?
Doctor Kang wrote a unique thesis called "The effects of feng-shui on the economy". It claims that the direction and ventilation of an office building or factory can strongly influence the efficiency of its employees. In fact, when Doctor Kang visits an office for a consultancy, he finds that almost every office is located in a water vein area. Water veins affect human brain waves and decrease efficiency. To solve this problem, there are two solutions. Relocating to another area without a water vein is the best and active solution. As a passive measure, spreading copper plates on the ground can cut off some of the bad influences of water veins. The influence of feng -shui is so tremendous that many large enterprises think much of it and pay dearly for the advice of feng-shui experts. Doctor Kang always writes "Gangyeol- loc" on his consulting results to pledge his honor.
In Korea, the active study of feng-shui is in urgent need. Kang has devoted himself to teaching the younger generation because he knows that true education of original Korean forms of feng-shui is an effective solution to overcoming people's surroundings. Although he is over 70 years old, he is still vigorously active, and gives popular lectures every Saturday. The number of his disciples is roughly 60,000. Yet, feng shui is still a study in need of a boost, because a lot of people still regard feng-shui as nothing more than superstition. Accordingly, young people interested in feng-shui usually choose not to study it in depth, instead selecting subjects that promise them more money. Consequently, scholars of feng-shui rarely take part in government affairs. However, Kang believes a day will come when Korean contempt for feng-shui will disappear. He thinks that eventually many young and competitive scholars of feng-shui will come forward in succession. Even though Japan got into feng-shui late, the country has improved its own chi with stunning speed.
For now, the feng-shui status of Japan is more advanced than that of Korea. For example, if a person wants to be Prime Minister there, he first asks a local expert where he should live, and does his best to move there. After spending two or three years campaigning there, he will finally become Prime Minister. The Prime Minister's official residences and Japan's Waseda University are located in the best spots, according to feng-shui insiders. Kang says, "The most important thing is for politicians to completely understand it. feng-shui is not a simple theory for just deciding on good burial sites. Korean politicians should utilize feng-shui to help them in setting the country's direction for development. (http://www.fengshui.or.kr )
By Jeon Hae-sun / tolucy@ittimes.co.  

2008.12.10