Feng Shui

I know some people in the U. S. who are devotees of Feng Shui, the new-age application of balance in one's life. It goes beyond having good luck or bad luck. It is the literal measure of "qi", or the flow of energy, in a particular space. The Chinese have followed the basic principles of Feng Shui for thousands of years. Westerners only caught onto the tradition recently while deciding how to re-arrange their living room furniture.


Non-Chinese railroad-builders earned the wrath of the locals in the 20th century by building tracks in violation of Feng Shui principles. Although the Chinese were angered, I suppose there were few instances of locomotives suddenly jumping off the tracks without explaination. Yet the tradition, or superstition, remains.


I joined three of my Chinese co-workers for a meal at a restaurant. The host guided us to our seats at a table in the middle of the room. After ordering our meals, my co-workers began speaking amongst themselves in Mandarin, and suddenly got up from their chairs. They moved to another table, leaving me sitting alone. I finally stood up and followed them, expecting some kind of explaination to come my way in English. Nothing. So, after a few minutes at the new table, I said, "what was that all about? Why did we move?" "That table had bad Feng Shui," one of my colleagues explained. I was pissed. "So, what?" I said, "You were going to make me sit there by myself? What was I supposed to do, walk out of the place so I could get hit by a bus?"


The response was classic Chinese. "But everyone knows Feng Shui," the co-worker said. "Everyone."