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An Introduction to By Tina Cassidy, Boston Globe, Sunday, May 12, 1996
Varone added some plants and a vibrant piece of art in a focal area of the office -- also known as the wealth corner -- and within days, the company had signed new clients. Patricia Ng, a Chinese-born broker at Century 21/Benoit Realty in Somerville, does not believe in feng shui. So when a concerned friend hired a consultant to check out the $200,000 house Ng was about to purchase, she discounted his warning -- which said she would lose money on the property -- and bought it anyway. "I am so Americanized. I said, "give me a break," Ng recalled. "But everything bad that could happen in life, happened to me." She finally sold the property, at a $150,000 loss, and hasn't bought anything since. Feng shui, the ancient Chinese tradition of art and harmony of place -- part superstition and part practical design -- is a hot topic in real estate and decorating circles these days. With Hong Kong about to return to communist rule at the end of the year, the Chinese are pulling money out of banks there and investing in Western real estate. Although the Pacific Coast has been receiving the lion's share of that cash infusion, cities along the Atlantic Coast, including Boston, are attracting a great deal of interest. So a rash of Asian buyers are arriving with their checkbooks open and their belief in feng shui, guiding them on how the property should look, feel and be situated. As a result, feng shui (which means "wind, water" and is pronounced fung shway) is becoming more accepted and more understood in this country. It is also becoming an increasingly popular tool among Americans buyers. Noel Chiu, translating for her father, Ching Yun Chiu, a feng shui master with an office in Chinatown who charges $100 a visit, said his clients come from all walks of life. "It's different kind of people. Sometimes they are not rich, but they want to know something about it. Some are just curious about feng shui. They feel their situation right now is really bad and they want to change it," Noel Chiu said. "I guess they want harmony in their life. They're looking for peace, energy and serenity." Books written by feng shui experts are quickly filling store shelves. Articles on the subject are appearing in decorating magazines at the grocery checkout. The National Association of Realtors two weeks ago held a seminar on the subject at its mid-year meeting in Washington. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board has held discussions on feng shui at its marketplace diversity seminars. And the Boston Design Center is hosting a feng shui master Wednesday to explain to what is expected to be a standing-room-only crowd how the philosophy is now impacting American design. Feng Shui is hip. It's trendy. And although some Westerners may consider the tradition to be little more than superstition, there are some practical interpretations. It also, apparently, makes good business sense. Donald Trump reportedly called in a feng shui master to sign off on one of his Manhattan buildings in order to get approval from his Asian lenders. Good feng shui, applied in this case, would dictate that The Donald will have good luck, he'll repay the loan and everyone will prosper. The same principle holds true in residential real estate. In Brookline, for example, real estate brokers say Asian buyers look for brick and stucco houses because those exteriors represent good feng shui and, they believe, will bring stability and wealth. Also, many Chinese buyers will not even look at homes with an address that includes the number 4, which is a homonym for death in that language. In Lowell, Asian buyers shun properties near a cemetery, a funeral home or at the bottom of a dead end street. They prefer homes less than 20 years old, because, they believe, there is less likelihood that something bad could have happened in the house. They try not to buy homes that have had major repairs. In Quincy, the layout of the property -- the way a hill slopes or a stream cuts through the yard -- could determine whether a house is sale-able to a large portion of that city's market, much of which is Asian. "So whether Western real estate brokers or developers believe in it or not, they're having to start following these principles in order to be successful," said Hank Reisen of Reisen Design Associates, a Cambridge-based architecture firm that incorporates feng shui in its residential and commercial projects. He says most of his clients are not Asian. "It's starting to become much a part of the public consciousness," added Reisen, who has been studying feng shui since 1978. There are several schools of feng shui: the traditional school, which is concerned with compass direction as it relates to properties, such as whether it faces the rising sun; the form school, which deals with landscape details and the shapes and forms of buildings; and the Black Hat sect, which centers around the location of doors and roads and the flow of a household. The latter school, highly recognized among Americans, was popularized here by Lin Yun, a master who has taught many consultants in his country, including Varone and Reisen. His disciples charge anywhere from $100 an hour to $750 an our for a consultation. In essence, feng shui says you should organize your living space so that it reflects the natural order of the universe. You should pay attention to details, such as the direction your front door faces and the arrangement of furniture in the room where you receive guests. The result s a harmonious life. Johndennis Govert a Phoenix-based feng shui consultant and author who is giving a speech at Boston's Design Center Wednesday says that if a couple is having trouble in their relationship, feng shui can help. "The minute you actually change how their spaces are, it's like you change how they relate to one another. It's like alternating a ritual. It could be just moving their bed around … it changes how they are," Govert said. Every home and office has a "wealth corner," a space that interior designers refer to as a focal point. In feng shui, the wealth corner is part of the living room that sits on a diagonal from the front door. And what you put in your wealth corner says a lot about who you are and how your life is going. Having an empty wealth corner is not recommended. Pictures of children or flowers are considered harmonious symbols. A small statue of a decapitated horseman, for example, while it may be a great work of modern art, is considered bad feng shui. Govert recalls doing a consultation for a couple that had moved nine times in three years, most recently from Boston to Phoenix. Their goal was to settle down. But in their wealth corner was a large picture containing a sun, a volcano and a giant waterfall in the foreground. "That was a symbol of change," Govert said. "I pointed it out and they said, 'well, you don't understand. It's (a copy of a picture that's) in the National Gallery of Art.' " He told them to get rid of it anyway. "The idea of feng shui is sometimes if you change your environment it is easier to change your mind. Sometimes it's easier to change things internally than externally," Govert said. "And that's the whole wisdom of life. Feng Shui Principles Entranceway:
Living Room:
Kitchen:
Dining Room:
Study or Office:
Bedroom:
Bathrooms:
Hallways:
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A Boston printing company wanted to improve its business.
Rather than call in a marketing professional or hire more sales
staff, it called Linda Varone, a Cambridge-based interior
designer and feng shui consultant.
