Fengshui in practice
The ancient art of fengshui in the real world.

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 a few years ago, 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 appropriate 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 grandfather was a renowned feng shui master in the small town of Taishan in southern China. Louis spent most of his childhood there, but - unlike most family disciples - he began learning feng shui with great suspicion.

Louis inherited from his father a healthy dose of scientific skepticism. After heated debates in which he argued against the practice with his grandparents, he began to read ancient books about feng shui and fortune telling. "I was just trying to prove them wrong!" he recalls, "But I became so infatuated that I started to learn it." Louis majored in architecture at Yunnan University in southeast China before the Communist takeover of 1949, where he learned to combine feng shui theories with architectural design. Returning to Hong Kong in the 1950s, he was quickly swept up by the development boom and established his own company, Taylor Construction. His most ambitious project was the Hoover Theatre, completed in 1954. Designed by the famous architect Robert Fan, the 12-story building was the largest movie theatre in Hong Kong at the time - and feng shui played a role. According to the Hong Kong building code of the time, buildings were required to have steps leading into them, as a measure against floods during the monsoon season. After inspection, however, Louis realized that steps would be disastrous for the feng shui of the theatre. "A step, be it one inch high, symbolizes a mountain, which would impede the flow of chi," says Louis. At last Louis found an alternative, replacing the steps with a long ramp. He justified this to the authorities by saying that in the event of an emergency, steps would impede the escape of the audience. It worked and the theatre opened with its unique ramp entrance. Business became more difficult in the 1960s and 1970s, however, by 1980, Louis had declared bankruptcy and decided to move to the United States, settling in the Bay Area, which he says has the best feng shui in the country. With the persistent encouragement of some old friends, Louis started his own business, Good Fortune Feng Shui Design. The fact that he could not speak English did not seem to hurt business, even as he expanded his clientele beyond the Chinese community. Today, he lives comfortably in a large house constructed according to his own feng shui design, and is planning to write a book on his practice of the ancient art. Louis' success in the U.S. has been a surprise to even him. But as he notes, recalling his decision to follow fate and move to the U.S.: "Be charitable and follow the practice of feng shui, and you will have a happy life." Written by Julie Chen Zhu