Cecil Lee

Dear Anon, I believe the older generation of Chinese, arranged marriages are very common. My parents have arranged marriages. There's is not the arrange marriage where it is determined from birth but rather later years of their life where my grandfather saw the `need' for my father to get married. I believed, he asked a matchmaker to find a match for my dad. When I was young, my parents used to bring us to visit relatives and close friends. I recalled one close friend of my family who said that she was invited to her prospective in-laws home. She was viewed from top to toe. The in-laws also looked at the type of `bone structure' and the `shape' of her legs. In a `crude way', it is similar to what we see at auctions of animals. Where, the buyers were shown the animal and they bid for it. I am not exaggerating but this is very true. There are also those who had arranged marriages when they are young. I believe there is a simliar practise in India. I also recalled my great, great grandmother, who had tiny feet. Feet that were bounded together cruely when young. Their feet can fit if I am not mistaken `doll' shoes. It is a real pity because they are like walking on stilts i.e. narrow feet that are not well balanced. Anyway, I only remembered this but she died a short while after I was born so cannot remember more. If you asked me, I was told that small feet then were considered very graceful for a lady. The rich or the middle class usually hold a 10 course wedding dinner. The courses vary but usually not less than 8 courses in total. The first dish is a usually a `cold' dish or an assortment of food that are `cold' e.g. prawns in salad cream, jelly fish, scrambled eggs, pork etc... The last dish is usually a desert e.g. almond jelly or other Chinese deserts. In the past, the taboo was not to wear a wedding dress twice. But because most newly married couples take their wedding photos prior to the wedding. Some consider this inasupicious as `symbolically' the wearing of dress twice is like marrying two times. Some (not all) would get a beatiful male child and give them an red packet (money) to roll over the wedding bed in the hope that they are blessed with an equivalent male child. The pride of any family who wants their Surname to be carried on. Well there are many more. For those who live in Singapore, I recalled a few weeks back reading that someone had written a book on weddings. Perhaps you can check it out in the local English newspaper: The Straits Times, Singapore. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, I believe you brought up a very interesting point. In my earlier message or response to a question, I did not elaborate another point that you mentioned. One of the most important reason why Pillars of Name is difficult to be applied to Christian names (for now) is because pronounciation is also taken into consideration under Pillars of Name. The sound of a Chinese character has been categorised into each of the five elements. Another reason why Pillars of Name is diffcult to be analysed for Western names is because, each Chinese characters is based on `the number' of strokes for the word. Here, Yin and Yang is also equated with e.g. Plus or Minus, even or odd `strokes'. For a christina name such as: George (we cannot deduce the number of strokes for that character). What about Ben, Ber, Bat etc... Therefore, it is quite difficult to `covert' English names to Chinese names to determine whether it is Yin/Yang or one of the Five elements. But, one day, or I am not sure whether anyone has done some conversion by listening to the English name and `converting' it to Chinese name. This is possible. Maybe, try your luck at typing in your Christian name; use the www.altavista.com 's conversion module to convert your `English' name to a Chinese name. Hope it does not sound erh.. *silly* or wrongly converted:) Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Chetan, I believe, if you are referring to the use of the Chinese Astrology, for example, ( reference : www.lovesigns.net ), like the Zodica signs e.g. Gemini, Cancer etc... are considered explanations as to the different characteristics of each individual. Under astrology, it can tell you the characteristic differences but this where it ends. If we are referring to the Eight House Theory, where one is a West or East facing house person, one can still make relations work. What is more important if one is using say astrology or believe in it, try to `learn' or understand the differences of the two `animal' signs better. For those who do not really want to rely on the above, should work their differences or work more on your communications with each other. If you truly love each other, try your best to make your relationship work. This is because, I cannot give you direct advise based on Feng Shui tools as these tools are used for a different purpose i.e. to locate sha qi or enhance qi. The above are considered the proper `Terms of Reference' or mission and objectives of Feng Shui. Hope that you solve your relationship problems:) Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Vickie, The main important question I would like to ask you why do you think you need to place a Ba Gua at the main entrance of your house. I hope you don't mind but can you let us know your reasons for doing so first. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, In my opinion, I find it quite difficult to answer such a question because there are quite alot of reasons or significance for someone to come up with a logo. For example, to me, feather pen and ink pot reminds me of a scholarly person or a shop dealing in e.g. stationery such as a book store or gift shop. There will always be millions of logo designs and it is up to the individual to see and try to guess what they think it is like. More importantly, an easier method is for one to find out their element, better still the strength of their element and using the Five Elements concept i.e. Productive and Destructive sequence to come up with their logo. For example, the www.geomancy-u.com logo was designed by Robert and myself taking into consideration our Pillars of element and its strength. The surrounding Blue represents telecommunications and we also like the Tai hexagram because it is the best combination of the hexagram with the meaning of `peace'. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, This is a good question. Actually, what I am referring is Sha Qi due to poison arrows ie. poison arrows aimed at the main entrance for example. Or when your main entrance door directly face the a backdoor or windows. One has therefore to be careful that this concept of `what you can't see is no longer a threat'. The above is meant for visual objects and not meant to be applied to underground courses etc... It is totally different. It is good that you pointed out this and it is hoped that the above clearly explains the distinction. Another further distinction is because undergound water is considered `vapours' or the emission of vapours. It has been proven in independent studies by the Germans. http://www.geomancy.net/fs/under.htm We therefore cannot mix the two (poision arrows with the above). Not all FS principles can be applied at ground level or underground. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Shellie, As what we have discussed about i.e. placement of `cures' is based on basic Feng Shui, therefore these are piecemeal activities. What I can help is based on available information at hand. Because there are other cross checks that can further analyse the situation as we have not gone further into applying other FS applications. If you have not done anything other thing than to place the six coins, then you can try to take it down if it seems to be the cause of not sleeping well. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jocelyn, Maybe, it would be better if I rephase it this way. NW and W are locations with the metal element. Unless one has done further analysis i.e. using the Flying Star to determine that there these sites are favourable. As metal wind chimes may inadvertently increase the `metal' element at these locations and make it inauspicious. For those who do not want to go further and use the Flying Star can if they really like to `experiment' placing e.g. a wind chime if they feel comfortable with it. The above regarding NW and W serves only as a caution where possible find out more if one is using Feng Shui to determine the `suitability ' of using the wind chime at the location. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Srikanth, I am trying my best to understand your question. You mentioned that there are anomalies under Eight House. As the Eight House is personalised to an individual. It is best used to find out a person's best personal direction. It is also used to find out the degree of suitabiltiy e.g. if the death / diaster line falls at the main entrance door, the house is considered the most unsuitable for the person. Next, the sector where the individual spent the most time e.g. in the bedroom should preferably be a good / auspicious sector. You mentioned that people who are living Here, I believe, each `people' you mentioned do have their individual Eight House Gua number. And are they all having the same Gua number. It could be also that instead, the house chart for that particular sector based on Flying Star (or birth chart) of the sector is auspicious as opposed to an individual using the Eight House and finding that to him, the death line is at the toilet. What about other family members. The Eight House is best used under current situtation to determine the personal best direction of an individual. It is recommended to be used to check auspicious or inauspicious sectors particulary at the main entrance (bread winner) and for the rest of the family, their bedrooms. It is understood that there are limitations of the Eight House. It cannot also be used to find a `cure' or `enhancement'. One has to seriously take it that the best use is as stated above. Sorry, I am really not sure what you are trying to say because, I have tried my best to always emphasise a well known fact that the Eight House is not a `cure all'. All its limitations are I believe, mentioned quite extensively. For the reason that there are limitations in the Eight House Theory, we therefore have been discussing extensively on other Feng Shui Theories and concepts. The most recent was the Flying Star House numbers to analyse high rise buildings thru `vertical' analsis where the existing Flying Star Theory looks at the horizontal analysis. As you have mentioned, the Eight House is the easiest theory to understand because of its simplicity. We have not stopped there but continue to introduce more and more concepts. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Kate, 1. One `method' is based on where your house number is placed. For example, if your house number is placed above the front door or on the door itself, this is considered your main door. 2. The next question is, to choose a door that is `more favourable'. If it so happens that under the Flying Star theory and assuming that your house was renovated under Period 7, and there is a double #7 stars, then one should make this the main entrance door. If one does not want to go indept into using Flying Star, then the next best alternative is to see which door suits the breadwinner best by using the Eight House Theory. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Chris, It is for this case that the House Number module was developed by Feng Shui masters to tackle modern problems relating to flats. The reason is because one should not change the house direction whether sitting or facing. Essentially, the whole block face is facing that particular direction. That is why, if the Flying Star of a particular layout in a flat or apartment is good or bad, it does not mean that everyone of the same block will share the same luck. Because different house numbering will determine the luck of the unit based on Flying Star house numbering. In addition, whether it is good or bad depends on the Pillars (true element and strength) of an individual. That is why for this reason, there is no need to change the sitting or facing direction. Robert and myself strongly agree that Traditional method still stands because when one do a Feng Shui audit, Flying Star is only one of the audit tools. The key reason is that the house may be good but if it does not suit the person staying in the house, he will not be able to enjoy the benefit of the house. Furthermore, Flying Star (Farmer's Flying Star) analyses a wide sector which includes a large building and its analysis takes into account Horizontal sector influences and not vertical influences. For this reason, there is no need to change the sitting and facing position. As mentioned, that is why the vertical analysis called Flying Star House number was developed especially by modern Hong Kong Masters to cover this `missing' link. I mentioned Hong Kong in particular rather than Taiwan Masters because, they are faced with a high rise developments and successfully done so many FS audits. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Yes, in my opinion, this is indeed a true statement. 1. Currently in mainland China, where they have a `one' child family planning, there are many articles that mentioned the problem where the ratio of males babies are higher than female babies. Such articles, do mention that many parents had either aborted or killed/murdered female babies secretly. 2. To understand why this is happening, one can take clue to this: Chinese grand parents and even parents have a social pressure to give birth to baby boys. Why? This is because only the males can `carry' their family name. For example, the grand father's Surname is Tang, only a male child born to him can carry on his surname `Tang'. For the female, if her name is Tang Ai Lin, once she marries into (assuming another Chinese family) will take on the husbands surname. For example if her husband Surname is Wong, her maiden name is now Tang Ai Lin. Her child (either boy or girl) has to adopt her husband's Surname. Some `modern' working wife may alternatively call themselves Wong-Tang Ai Lin. Here we know that her true Surname is Tang and her husband's is Wong. A further simplication is she is known as Mrs Wong. But the son can never be called Wong-Tang Boy Boy. He must use the surname Wong. His children has to use the surname Wong. Even if Mrs Wong is divorced, she `cannot' simply change her son's name to Tang Boy Boy. Therefore, if we follow the above, if a male child is not born, the family name `cannot' carry on. Thus for the above reason, in the past, if the wife cannot bear a son, she is dispised by her in-laws and even the husband had no choice but find another wife who can give birth to a boy. (Erh.. especially for rich families). In the past, Chinese royalty will execute an entire family if they are out of their favour or due to treason. This is a cruel way to try and exterminate the entire family with that Surname. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, In my country, and in my opinion, the statement is no longer true for the following reasons: 1. Good quality inlaid pearl furniture especially if they are `old' are considered `antiques' and very expensive. 2. Many people nowadays (especially the middle class) can only afford `imitation' antique furniture without the pearl inlay. 3. I remember when I was young, my parents used to bring us to my auntie's parents home in Orchard Road (Singapore). Her father is a Chinese physician and I remembered clearly the beautiful pearl inlay set against many dark coloured wooden furniture. I recalled seeing motifs of leaves, flowers etc... They are really lovely. I do recall that these furnitures do require `attention' as sometimes the pearl inlay falls off. (In my opinion, to me the furniture looks expensive. But I am not sure if it is due to quality problems or wear and tear.) 4. Pearls signify purity and the Chinese were cultivating it even before the Japanese had done so. 5. It is still common practise to place a `pearl' in a person's mouth at their death. The tongue is akin to the mussel and the pearl (if we can visualise, like it is exactly as in nature in an oyster's `mouth'. 6. I have seen many `young couples' who rather purchase `modern' e.g. fabric or leather furniture rather than these `antiques'. One reason again is that they are so expensive (the quality ones) and a few pieces of such furniture does not blend well with their interior decor. 7. There is a `danger' under Feng Shui that too much `real' antique furniture causes one to `narrow minded' , rigid thing etc... Where one purchase antique furniture, one should where possible learn (if you can) the history of the furniture piece. As the furniture piece would, in my opinion, retain some of the Qi where it stood the longest e.g. in a old house. Too much antique furniture, could change the Qi within a home. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, On reading your `concept' it sounds interesting. It is more a case of `desperately' trying to find a location to activate a mountain star. *No offense* I mean it as a joke. The above is considered a `flaw' concept. This is because there are two methods to divide a house into either 9 proportionate squares or use a pie chart dividing the house into 8 sectors with an extra sector at the centre of the house. One sector represents a compass direction. I understand what you are saying. It is like an `L' shaped house and you can further divide the two rectangles of the `L' shape into the two rectangles. As much as we want to have mountain stars in our home, we cannot, simply `produce' mountain stars with our *imagination*. Therefore, there is no such thing as superimposing a NW mountain star into all 8 sectors of the pie chart and treat each NW as a mountain star. *JOKE* -- Nice Try;) Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Kate, If your business is experiencing financial difficulties and is situated in an office rather than your home, the Feng Shui of the home will typically have a reduced impact on the office. In such cases, it is recommended to conduct an office audit. Regarding the sloping ceiling: 1. The higher the slope, the less auspicious it is considered to be. 2. One option for those sleeping under a sloping roof is to use a poster bed, although this may be more expensive. Alternatively, cloth material can be placed to act as a barrier against the sloping ceiling. In addition to the above, the principle of 'If you do not see it, it no longer becomes a cure' applies. By installing a false ceiling to cover the sloping ceiling, the threat posed by the slope is eliminated. While using a false ceiling may not be practical for you, this example illustrates how the concept can be applied. 3. When facing financial challenges, it may not necessarily be due to the Feng Shui of the house, but rather the Feng Shui of the office or shop. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Sorry for posting only the initials of the word HDB. By the way, the intitials is not HBD but HDB In Singapore, the government has a statutory board (semi-government Board) that builds houses for the majority of the population. Approximately 90 percent of Singaporeans live in a Housing Board Flat or HDB for short. Usually, these flats are 99 year leases and partiall subsidised by the government. The purpose of the government is to making public housing affordable to everyone. Frankly, there is no difference between a `home' or a housing board flat. In our common language here, usually private housing are usually condominium, flats, landed property etc... and these are termed `Private' housing. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Thanks for your comments. This feature is not available for quite sometime. I believe that in a forum, we can accept occassional typing or spelling mistakes. What is more important is that we try to convey our messages in a warm and friendly atmosphere. Instead, it is good for everyone to `construct' the Topic header as `meaningful' as possible. For example, try not to type topics as: Mountain Star (instead type as : How to activate a mountain star) Sloping ceiling (instead type as : Are sloping ceiling bad? Usually, when I come across topic headings like the above, I have to change them to a more meaningful Topic heading. I am very glad that many forum users are taking the effort to type in meaningful topic headers. For those who still type two word headers, we appreciate if you could follow some of the examples in the forum. As there are more and more messages, I am sure, a good topic heading will be very useful to follow through or do a search. Thanks in advance. Cecil

Dear Anon, It is not a `conclusive' fact that paintings can neutralise bad sectors. In well published Feng Shui cures, the most common neutralizing agents range from: 1. If you cannot see it it no longer becomes a sha. 2. Use of lighting, water positions and plants. 3. Use of 6 coins to defeat say the bad #2 and #5 For paintings, it is mostly used to enhance the interior. Caligraphy of meaningful words are commonly used. One can say that as there are many practioners with their view points, or agenda, there are those who pay emphasis on paintings while others do not really feel that they are of the utmost importance. In my personal opinion, painting is secondary. What is more important is a `good house'. For example, I have shown pictures of what my grandfather's house was like. Originally, the house was bring him wealth and good luck. Since it ain't broken don't fix it. The result was that he `chopped' off the head of the house. Added a `heavy' head for the house. I believe this has resulted in his death. After we sold the house, the new owner became bankrupt. Eventually, this type of house has to be sold. It was later sold and demolished. The same situation happened with my neighbour's house which also chopped off the head of the house and built a new one. This neigbour's house has also eventually to be sold and demolished. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Kate, To confirm if it is indeed a poison arrow, it must be tangent to or aimed directly at the main entrance or the window. The best way to determine this is to stand at the main door facing outwards. If you do not see the triangular roof pointed directly towards the main entrance door it is not really a poison arrow. Do the same for the window. Stand at the window and observe the triangular roof. Is it pointed into the house thru the window? If not, then this is not a poison arrow. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Chris, Under the `simplified' timing, you will find that Singapore, Hong Kong are in the same time zone as Beijing, the capital of China at +0800 GMT. Even in the past, even at most there is not more than 1/2 an hour difference in time adjustments. Therefore, when you check for time, for Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing are exactly the same time zone. For predicting auspicious situations, what is most important is to find an auspicious date (DAY) which gives a 24 hour leeway. For hourly predictions, it still gives a two hourly leeway based on Chinese hour. Even if one considers analysis using Pillars of Destiny, the hour of birth can even be omitted or ignored and the Pillars of Destiny has been mentioned by many in the past to be as accurate without this fact. For example, many Feng Shui masters claim that if one has lived his life time, he can work backwards to obtain the hour of birth based on the history of the person's life. This is the reason one should not be too concern about the change in time zone as often this is the least important factor as many other additional factors can be taken into account even by Pillars or I-Ching. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Please see below:- Since you sleep on the floor, it is acceptable to sleep close to the window. This is because, the lower part of the wall can be considered the near equivalent of a head rest. However, do note that it also depends on the wind conditions outside the house. If it is too windy, one may catch a cold. Sorry, can u explain further on this as I am not clear what u mean. A table would not be a good subsitute as a headrest. It would be better not to have a headrest under the conditions you mentioned. Nowadays, many people, with little knowledge or commonly, we say ` a little knowledge is a dangerous thing '. Here, one has to differentiate between advise given by a competent FS consultant and one that reads up books, literally do it yourself without knowing more. One has to understand that a competent FS consultant can usually able to provide multiple advise after considering all the available factors. He/She can track and even anticipate what will happen using a specific cure or enhancement. But for a `novice', my advise is that if one is doing trial and error FS, do not do it all at once. As both of us have not truly read or more importantly read the `Vastu' it is difficult for me to comment on something which I do not know about. Let's put it another way, you can say that I am `biased' and pro Feng Shui because, I have at least 20 years indept study into almost all the more popular Schools of Feng Shui etc... Why is Feng Shui so popular today? Non believers of Feng Shui will attribute it to the Marketing Skills. Believers or would be believers of Feng Shui will get to see more and more people setting up Feng Shui websites. For example the Wind and Water Ring already has not less than 100 ring members and nearly every week, I receive request to join the ring. On a neutral level, one has not only to study but truely understand Vastu in order to make a qualified comment. But reading between the lines is not a fair way to say whether it is better or worse than Feng Shui. Take for example, I recently mentioned that 9-Star Ki is also another variant of Feng Shui. The recommendation here is that if one is keen to learn 9-Star Ki, my advise is to stick with it. The reason is because it has its own `ruleset' and one should practise it in total. Currently, mixing it with `Traditional Feng Shui' (origin from China) is both difficult as it is difficult to cross reference certain aspects to the other. Perhaps, you may be mistaken. I do not discourage the use of chimes, plants etc... But rather, use them after evaluating the situation closely. What ever cures is to solve a problem and not merely for the sake of commercialisation of such items. Before, one uses such items, one has to really do their homework and after this, place it especially to neutralise a problem. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, It is good that you bring up this question. 1. You see, the Five elements also has an equivalent relation with numbers. For example:- 5 = Strong Earth 6 = Big Metal 7 = Small Metal 1 = Water 4 = Small Wood 3 = Big Wood Here one has to understand that take for example, small wood refers to a small plant while big wood is = a tree. 2. Traditional Feng Shui practioners use either of the following as a cure or enhancer: a. Water positions b. Plants c. Lighting Some feng shui practioners recommend five rounded bulbs to `light' up a location. As they believe light creates beneficial Qi. Natural lighting is still the best. The reason why they use five rounded bulbs is to represent all the five elements. The above is one way of looking at why they use the five rounded bulbs. To these practioners, light is good for beneficial Qi and they did not really consider the implication of Number 5 as equivalent to the Misfortune Star 5 but rather, these number of light brings beneficial Qi. Furthermore, these practioners are usually Shapes and Form practioners and less concerned with Flying Star numbers. In Singapore, there are quite alot of practioners who only practise the Eight House Theory! Some are not well versed with Flying Star. For `serious' practioners of Flying Star would not want to use 5 coins. To them (you can say that they are "obsessed" *joke* with numbers). Remember that to the Flying Star practioners, they only eat, talk and sleep on numbers and numbers are very important to them. Although I exaggerated abit about these practioners being `obsessed' with numbers, you can see that to them number 5 represents the EARTH element. These Flying Star practioners are already `horrified' with Number 5 and seeing a cure with 5 coins would really tear away their `hear'. You can say that they already do not want to have anything to do with 5. So to them 5 coins is worse off as a cure because, 5 represents Earth element and one is introducing more Earth (5 coins) to the situation. I hope you can look at it as a light hearted moment, and understand what I mean:) Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Thanks for bring up this interesting question. If I am not mistaken, if it is written somewhere, most likely, the author should have instead say that whenever star #2 and #5 meet (or viz-a-viz #5 and #2 meet), this is already considered an inauspicious water and mountain star. If one is doing a manual calculation and find that with these two stars, there is say a mountain star at this sector, do check the calculations again. This is because, whenever there is a #2 and #5 (stars meet) one can never find a water or mountain star at this location. But one must remember that the base star can still have a 5 or 2 and there are instances where a mountain star will occur. For example: 2 6 5 5 8 2 Here, we are not comparing the base star with one of the two stars (water or mountain). Hope the above helps you understand, Flying Star better:) Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear John, So far, down under, Glyn is still the very best but (unfortunately) she is in Perth. I am not sure, anyone else can match her in Australia. Warmest Regards, Cecil That's sort of 1. Do you know any 2. Given my birth date, Once again, thanks for your John :) -----Original Dear John, Under the Eight House 1. Where possible the location 2. Since you The I was born in How could I All rights Reserved.

Dear Anon, I agree with you on the statement. In the past, this was the case. One reason for this is because, if one is rich or influential, I guess, the genes are considered (I am not sure how to call it but generally) the genes are considered `better' genes and the offsprings are `suppose' to be more intelligent. Well, the above is just a general saying and if it incurs the wrath of anyone here, than I apologise. It is just one of those `theories' I read and kept in my mind...:) In Singapore, it is now no longer possible for Chinese to marry and take on a second wife. The penalty: `Going to Jail'. Therefore, for a `FINE' country like Singapore, this acts as a deterrent. In fact, there are lots of rich people in Singapore in the early 1950's who have maintain a second wife. Nowadays, with globalisation, many, I believe do keep mistress (secretly) and I suspect in some `poorer' neighouring countries. This is common also for the rich Chinese male all over Asia. As I am not familiar with Chinese males in western countries... it is too premature for me to comment on it. Anyone care to share with us especially those of you staying in the US and Europe? Another trend is many Asian Chinese, go to the extend of going to China to get a bride. In Singapore, another interesting trend is that especially the Indian population, there are in my opinion many Indian males who take on a Singapore Chinese bride. (Perhaps, the reason is due to fewer Indian girls available or many Indian males have done away with arranged marriages. Warmest Regards, Cecil