Hong Kong feng shui masters work to clear industry's name

Sep 6, 2010, 5:14 GMT

Hong Kong - Feng shui masters in Hong Kong are setting up an industry association to regulate their profession following a series of sex and money scandals, a news report said Monday.

The association, the first of its kind in the world, is aimed at raising standards in the wake of scandals involving feng shui masters accused of abusing their positions for sex or financial advantage.

The tentatively named the International Taoist Metaphysics Association is expected to be formally launched before the end of the year, the South China Morning Post reported.

Eight high-profile Hong Kong practitioners of feng shui - the ancient Chinese art of influencing destiny through the ordering of the elements - have already signed up.

The association will have a complaints mechanism and will provide free services to people on welfare benefits, according to the newspaper.

The move comes after Hong Kong feng shui master Tony Chan last year failed in his legal attempt to claim the multi-billion US dollar fortune of Asia's richest woman Nina Wang.

Chan claimed he had a 15-year love affair with the late head of the Chinachem property empire but a High Court ruled that a will he produced leaving him her entire fortune was forged.

There have also been a number of high-profile court cases in which so-called feng shui experts have been convicted of sexual assaults on women they were performing rituals on.

Feng shui master Szeto Fat-ching, who will be the association's first chairman, said: 'Some people use feng shui as an excuse to tell lies to earn money or (get) free sex, but this is a humiliating abuse of the culture and history of feng shui and Taoism.'

Hong Kong has an estimated 50,000 feng shui practitioners who are consulted on everything from choosing the date of a wedding or house move to arranging office furniture correctly.