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Day 4: Yang & Yin House Feng Shui: The Tale of a Generalissimo (12th April 2007)
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Ning Bo, China, April 12th, 2007
What do you get when Feng Shui and history come together? Why…history that comes alive, of course! A 3 1/2 hour early morning ride from Jin Hua, and we found ourselves knocking on the door to Jiang Jie Shi’s – more famously known to the world as Chiang Kai Shek – ancestral home…whoopee!
This house was the place where his grandparents and parents lived before Chiang. Born Jiang Rui Yuan in 1887, the name `Chiang Kai Shek’ was the Cantonese version of the pen name Jiang Jie Shi used as a writer, political and military leader.
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The youngest son of a wealthy family of salt merchants, Chiang was married thrice – prior to his final marriage to Soong May Ling, sister of the widow of Sun Yat Sen, Soong Ching Ling! It seemed that while the young Chiang Kai Shek was unhappy with his father’s will - which bequeathed the family’s salt business to his elder brother (whereas he was given only the ancestral home) - that was actually the turning point in his life, thanks to the house’s Feng Shui. In fact, the salt business eventually went bust while Chiang went on to become the head of the ruling Kuomintang Party, Generalissimo of all Chinese armed forces, Chairman of the Chinese National Government (a post he held until 1948 in Mainland China)…and until his death in 1975, the 1st President of the Taiwan (phew!). With such a distinguished list of feathers under his proverbial cap, surely there must have been something right…something powerful…about his family home that made Chiang the man he was?
We trained our ears on the tour guide’s explanation of the house’s history (which was NO mistake) but soon found our minds influenced by his narration (BIG mistake…we just never learn!). It showed in our audit of the place, as no application of formulas such as Ba Zhai, Flying Stars et al `matched’ the desired results. And Joey, who uttered just one sentence afterwards, allayed our confusion: “Chiang never stayed here…he just inherited the house!” Sheesh!
So naturally, off we trudged to see WHERE the Generalissimo was born. It was an old salt store – the very bread-and-butter of his family’s income. Despite sharing the same facing direction as his ancestral home, this store had a Literary Arts Star and a Tan Lang General Star standing at the Direct Spirit Location for the Lower Period (how’s that for Feng Shui in an equation?). With great interest and curiosity, we watched as Joey subsequently demonstrated how Luan Tou and Xuan Kong Da Gua were utilized to evaluate the forces behind Chiang’s birth as well as the success of this store until the turn of the Period.
And now, the mother of all questions: Where indeed did Chiang actually live? Well, the Generalissimo resided – with his last spouse, Soong May Ling - in another house located on the protruding meridian mountain towards his ancestral home’s Northeast! And yes, we were there…and audited the place accordingly. There, we discovered that this house had a General Seat Star interlocking the Water Mouth, thereby utilizing a Mian Gung Shui (Sleeping Bow Water) Formation. Along with the double-slanted Ju Men Mountains nearby, this made for a powerful Feng Shui for authority and power. Of course, no prizes for guessing that the house also had various flaws that consequently saw Chiang losing his power…and we discussed this amongst ourselves and with Joey thoroughly, later.
Now, what we did before lunch was Yang House Feng Shui – where the Feng Shui of a property affects the lives of its (living) residents. What we did after lunch was Yin House Feng Shui; which studies how the Feng Shui of the final resting places of one’s ancestors affects future generations. The effects of Yin House Feng Shui are….uhm…in effect…longer lasting and more predominant than the effects of Yang House Feng Shui. For one, no one (more puns today, eh?) lives forever on this Earth and secondly, the `residents’ of Yin Houses very rarely (if ever) move out!
The audit target in question was the tomb of Chiang Kai Shek's mother – Wang Cai Yu. It was truly an experience to be relished (macabre as this may sound)…more so as we knew that Joey had gone to great lengths to ascertain its exact location (and that of the tomb of Chiang's father, as well…but more on that later). He scouted high-and-low, talked to locals, pored over old maps and records…and as a result, there we were today, with only the Yin House audit to be done! It seemed that some of the locals told Joey that this tomb , together with the tomb of Chiang's father, had been unearthed and later `reassembled' - a legacy of the power struggle between Mao Ze Dong and Chiang Kai Shek during their similar lifetimes. While nothing could really confirm this irrefutably, it remains a historical fact that Chiang eventually lost his power in the Mainland and was forced to flee to Taiwan, which he administrated until his death.
Another 30-minute uphill walk (some of us opted for the sedan chairs provided, though!), and to our annoyance, we saw a huge canopy of trees hovering over the tomb when we reached it. Hearing our incessant grumbling, it was Joey’s turn to get annoyed, as he snapped: “Stop complaining! Start to learn to see…that’s what `Entering Earth Eye’ is all about!” As we fell silent, he kindly pointed out the contour of the surrounding land and the curvature of the hill, and we immediately saw the left and right embraces – as well as the meridian `On the Buddha’s Belly’ spot and the Yue Ping Imperial Screen Formation. Feeling rather ashamed of ourselves, we proceeded to take directions and make the requisite notes for later discussions.
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Still reeling from the more macabre stuff that we learnt today, we proceeded to track through a local village and up a hill. Our mission: To audit the tomb of Chiang’s father, Chiang Zhao Cong. For many participants, it was the 1st time they got to play `Indiana Jones’ in seeking `lost’ tombs, all in the name of Feng Shui! But with Joey at the helm, confidence was in abundant supply and soon enough, we located the elder Chiang’s tomb. This time, we managed to locate the vein formed by a Horizontal Release of Vein fairly quickly, which Joey identified as a `Fierce Tiger Facing Yang’ (Meng Fu Cao Yang Xue) spot. Under his intelligent supervision (Joey prefers guiding to spoon-feeding), we also succeeded in identifying the incoming dragon and Cao Bai (Prostrating) mountain formations. This was really Yin House Feng Shui in motion…as we also learnt how to assess a tomb using landform theorems vis-à-vis formulas!
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All in all, what a DAY! Not only did we get to play crazy archaeologist wannabes but better still, we got to hone both our Yang and Yin House Feng Shui knowledge under Joey’s watchful eyes. In fact, will anyone be able to catch the forty winks tonight…or will it be another night of lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to digest the stuff learnt during the day? Oh well…
It’s lights out, with the Day 4 log ending here.
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