After more than 100 years of colonial rule, Hong Kong is full of Western culture and color, but Hong Kong has a great belief in traditional Chinese feng shui numerology culture, and it can even be said that it is infatuated. Many people believe that Hong Kong's economic prosperity is due to the city's good feng shui.
For example, Victoria Harbour is calm every day, surrounded by mountains on both sides of the east and west, like a huge cornucopia, from which Hong Kong's wealth comes from.
Under the influence of Feng Shui feudal culture, many wealthy people are also difficult to avoid the old customs and believe in the power of Feng Shui. As a result, many feng shui masters have also emerged in Hong Kong, such as Song Shaoguang and Cai Boli.
Among these people, Cai Boli, the third-generation successor of "Zhenbutang", is the most famous, so much so that the descendants of the Huo family in Hong Kong have to ask Cai Boli to choose a cemetery for Fok Yingdong.
It is even rumored that even Li Ka-shing, the richest man in Asia, is willing to offer 2 million Hong Kong dollars because of Cai Boli's words. So, who is this mysterious Cai Boli? Could it be that he can really understand ghosts and gods, and know yin and yang?
In a word, it is up to 2 million
If you are not afraid of thieves stealing, you are afraid of thieves. The mausoleums of dignitaries often contain many rare treasures, but they are also most afraid of tomb robbers, and they racked their brains to set up many anti-theft measures before their deaths.
But as the saying goes: "The road is one foot high, and the magic is one foot high." Tomb robbers are alive, and their means will naturally keep pace with the times, and this carelessness pried open the tomb of Li Ka-shing's deceased wife, Zhuang Yueming.
In 2006, during the Spring Festival, all parts of Hong Kong were filled with the joy of the New Year. Suddenly, a phone call came to the office of Li Ka-shing's home in Deep Water Bay.
On the other end of the phone was the person in charge of the cemetery, and he said to Li Ka-shing: "Mr. Li, it's not good, something is wrong." Your dead wife's grave shows signs of theft. ”
Li Ka-shing, who was dressed in a suit, naturally had a rich temperament, and he angrily scolded the cemetery: "How did you do it? You can't even take care of the dead, what are you doing with the real money I pay every year?"
Anger is anger, and it can't change reality. Li Ka-shing put down the phone, got into a Bentley limousine, and arrived at the cemetery in a short time. Get out of the car and check carefully, and find that the mausoleum of the deceased wife Zhuang Yueming is neatly designed, the materials are solid, and the mausoleum is generally complete, but there are a few big holes on the periphery, and the interior is not destroyed.
"But no matter what, the feng shui here has been destroyed, and the deceased wife must not be at peace living here, so she can simply move the tomb. Li Ka-shing's mind was racing. Otherwise, the Hong Kong media will be full of mouth, saying that they are cold and ruthless.
Li Ka-shing, who believes in feng shui culture, found Cai Boli, an expert in public opinion and a famous feng shui master, the next day. The two have known each other for many years, and as soon as they met, Li Ka-shing got straight to the point and asked: "Master Cai, you must have heard about my deceased wife, where should I move, is it better?"
Cai Boli said: "Once the Yin Mansion is touched by tomb thieves, it will lose its aura, and it is not particularly easy to find a piece of feng shui treasure land again." ”
When Li Ka-shing heard this, he knew that Cai Boli was asking for a price implicitly, and he did not evade it, so he asked directly: "Money is not a problem, you name it, I will never bargain." After all, I owe Yueming too much. ”
Seeing that Li Ka-shing was so urgent, Cai Boli stretched out two fingers and signaled that it was 2 million Hong Kong dollars.
Li Ka-shing, who was on the rich side, couldn't help but be taken aback, and muttered: "Do you want to get 2 million?" Cai Boli didn't like to pull, so he said: "After all, when your deceased wife died, it was too miserable." She shouldn't have suffered. ”
Cai Bo said here, but the intention is there. At that time, there were rumors in Hong Kong that Zhuang Yueming's death was too strange, and it was not unrelated to Li Ka-shing. After Zhuang Yueming's death, Li Ka-shing "acted in a cozy" manner and built a building for his deceased wife's alma mater, the University of Hong Kong, called "Zhuang Yueming Building".
But once this building was completed, some Hong Kong feng shui masters bluntly said that this building resembles a coffin. The shape of the roof resembles the money sword in the Five Elements Bagua, and the money sword has the effect of calming the soul and warding off evil spirits.
Secondly, the interior design of "Zhuang Yueming Building" is more paradoxical, and the elevator can only go up and down. Students have to take the spiral stairs to get downstairs, which makes many students miserable. And the escalators going down in the building are all made of Liuzhou wood.
There is a folk proverb "Eat in Guangzhou, wear in Suzhou, play in Hangzhou, and die in Liuzhou." "Liuzhou wood has a smooth exterior and a thick interior, which prevents mosquitoes from eating it.
According to various abnormal designs, some feng shui masters speculated that Li Ka-shing hated his deceased wife to the core, and not only did not want her to be reincarnated as soon as possible, but wanted her to live forever and never be reborn, and her soul would always be trapped in this building.
However, speculation is always speculation, and in modern society, feng shui culture cannot constitute evidence, and Li Ka-shing can only be helpless. But people want face, trees need bark, as a businessman, Li Ka-shing naturally has to consider the views of Hong Kong people, otherwise it will affect the family business.
Therefore, Li Ka-shing readily agreed to Cai Boli's asking price. On the surface, the 2 million is the remuneration of the so-called feng shui master, but it is actually the "hush money" given by Li Ka-shing to Cai Boli.
With this 2 million, Cai Boli will be able to say a few more good words for Li Ka-shing in Hong Kong in the feng shui industry and reverse Li Ka-shing's sentimental comments. I have to say that Cai Boli is also a "feng shui master" who is proficient in human affairs.
"Feng Shui Family"
Speaking of Cai Boli, he was born on December 28, 1922 and is a native of Longjiang Town, Shunde County, Guangdong Province. His grandfather's name was Cai Zibai, who was an honor student of Xuehaitang astronomy in the late Qing Dynasty, who was proficient in the astronomical calendar and served in Qintianjian.
In 1891, Cai Zibai founded the "Zhenbutang Election Day Hall" on Gaodi Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou. The so-called "true step" is taken from "the meaning of really calculating the calendar step by step according to the celestial phenomena", and his father Cai Lianfang is the second generation of "Zhen Butang".
Originally, the young Cai Boli didn't want his son to inherit his father's business. At the age of six, Cai Boli went to Guangzhou to study, and was exposed to Western culture and new education, believing that "Feng Shui" was pure nonsense and had no science as a basis.
As the eldest son and grandson, and coincided with the Japanese invasion of China, his studies were forced to be interrupted, so Cai Boli accepted his father's proposal and began to systematically learn feng shui culture at the age of sixteen.
In addition to studying family knowledge, Cai Boli also studied mathematics under Zhang Yun, president of National Sun Yat-sen University and head of the Department of Astronomy. At the age of twenty-two, Cai Boli officially became the third-generation head of "Zhenbutang".
In the fifties, Feng Shui culture was regarded as a demagogic beast, a pseudoscience that everyone shouted at in the continental realm, and there was no market.
Cai Boli moved his family to Hong Kong to seek further development. Although Hong Kong is a colony, it retains many feudal legacies, including not only "polyandry and concubines", but also feng shui numerology. In the eighties and nineties, there were a large number of zombie and exorcism movies in Hong Kong, which were also a direct reflection of this culture.
Cai Boli is sophisticated, and as soon as he arrives in Hong Kong, he has a place to use. At the beginning, Cai Boli first contributed to Yongjingtang and Guangjingtang, and published the "Zhenbutang Almanac" to make a living.
This feng shui classic made Cai Boli famous. Later, many wealthy businessmen and tycoons found Cai Boli for positioning.
In 1995, Li Ka-shing spent a huge amount of money to buy a piece of golden land in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, as the headquarters building of Cheung Kong Group, and invited the world-famous architect Norman Foster to design it.
It took six years from conception to completion, and Tsim Sha Tsui was shaped like a sharp sword, piercing the other side. In Feng Shui, this is called the "Three Evils" (a general term for robbery, calamity, and year), and subduing the "Three Evils" can play a role in attracting "partial wealth".
For this reason, Li Ka-shing invited Cai Boli and asked him to pay attention to this solution. Cai Boli said to Li Ka-shing: "Mr. Li, the headquarters building has the Bank of China Building in front and HSBC in the back.
It can't be too high, it can't be too low, and it's best to have 62 floors, which is slightly higher than the Bank of China Tower. It is best to have a square appearance, like a pair of armor, so as not to be pressed by these two. ”
Subsequently, Li Ka-shing instructed Foster to build the headquarters of the Cheung Kong Group according to Cai Boli's words. Later, Li Ka-shing's business became bigger and bigger, and Cai Boli's reputation became more and more famous.
In 2007, red philanthropist Fok Ying-tung passed away. When he was alive, Fok Ying-tung maintained good relations with the mainland, and also contributed to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Fok Ying-tung once said: "I am an entrepreneur, but I am even more a Chinese! I have a Chinese heart, as long as the country needs, I can go to the soup for the country and the nation at any time." Later, Huo Yingdong also became the vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and had a certain political status.
When Fok Yingdong died, Huo Zhenhuan and Huo Zhenyu, relatives of the Huo family, hired Cai Boli and found a piece of cave blessed land in the "Xuan" section of the Hong Kong Buddhist cemetery as the tomb of Fok Yingdong after his death. This experience allowed Cai Boli to get acquainted with many high-level politicians.
As early as this time, Cai Boli had chosen auspicious days for many landmarks in the Hong Kong government to break ground. For example, in 1985, the location of the bronze lion in front of the HSBC head office building, and in 1993, the Hong Kong government consulted Cai Boli on the location of the Temple of Heaven Buddha on Lantau Island.
In recognition of Cai Boli's contributions, the Hong Kong government also awarded Cai Boli the Gold and Purple Gold Medal as a reward. In his later years, Cai Boli rarely showed up and lived in his hometown of Shunde. During that time, Cai Boli spent nearly 10 million yuan to buy 16 old houses.
The ancestral house has a courtyard pavilion and a lotus pond, which is a new-style courtyard house, and Cai Boli named it "Renyuan".
"Renyuan" adopts three rooms and two corridors design, the center is placed Cai Shibai Ling, the left and right sides are the Guanyin Hall and the reception room, almost every weekend, Cai Boli will rest in the ancestral house for two days.
Since 2000, Cai Boli has focused on inheriting the family business. He continued to edit "Tongsheng" in a semi-retired way, and designated his eldest daughter Cai Xinghua as his successor.
On July 26, 2018, Choi passed away at Hong Kong Island Sanatorium & Hospital due to organ failure. According to his living rituals, the funeral was carried out according to Buddhist rituals. The next day, the body was buried at the Chai Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery.
Epilogue:
Feng Shui, as a folk culture, has a history of thousands of years in China. The traditional theory of Feng Shui was formed in an agrarian society, which was no longer quite in line with the industrial society, and was once rejected.
Although Hong Kong is known as a metropolis of scientific prosperity and the exchange between East and West, most of its residents believe in feng shui culture. Some Chinese shops are hung with "72 spirit talismans of town houses", hoping to take refuge and eliminate disasters and prosper business.
In fact, there are some knowledge in Feng Shui that are in line with modern ecological theories, such as the house must be located in the south and facing north, so that it can receive more light.
But the gods and ghosts in Feng Shui are completely unbelievable. For feng shui masters like Cai Boli, it is regarded as a necessary existence of society, and it also meets the inner needs of the people, so don't over-publicize it, and don't deliberately suppress it.
Resources
"A Discourse on the Feng Shui Culture of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan", Guangxi Ethnic Studies, No.1, 2000
"The Calendar Can Be Conquered - Cai Boli" Metropolis Daily
"The Strange Stories of Li Ka-shing", Sing Tao Daily