As candidates gear up for the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29, deciding on locations for their campaign offices comes with a decision on whether to defer to feng shui.
The ancient Chinese concept of feng shui — the positioning and layout of buildings, furniture and other items — is believed to play a great part in influencing a person’s luck.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hsiao-wei (王孝維), a Buddhist and Taoist, said he took great care in placing items in his campaign office. The office features figurines of Kuansheng Dichun (關聖帝君) and the Maitreya Bodhisattva, as well as items such as flags representing the Taoist concept of five elements and a bagua compass.
Photo: Hsieh Chia-chun, Taipei Times
Wang said the office also has many trinkets featuring oxes and roosters, as Wang was born in the Year of the Ox, which is compatible with rooster and snake.
Since the ox represents the “earth” element and, according to tradition, the Earth gave birth to metal, the office also has many rocks and golden dragons, Wang added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chin Hui-chu (秦慧珠), who is seeking re-election, said she always asks a friend to look for a good location for an office every time she runs in an election, adding that she would never make the final decision to rent a place before her friend assesses it.
Chin said that once her friend said a place had bad feng shui, but Chin insisted on renting the location. She ended up losing the election.
Chin said that after that experience, she never again acted contrary to her friend’s feng shui advice.
Chin said that for the nine-in-one elections, her friend picked a favorable place for her accountant to sit in her two offices on Xinyi Road and Fujin Street, adding that the placement of the seats would allow the campaign to run smoothly and help with fundraising.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Hung Chien-yi (洪健益) also believes in feng shui. He placed three statues of Taoist deities in his campaign office for good luck. They include the Earth God (土地公) to bring greater wealth, Donghua Dichun (東華帝君) to guard the office and Nezha (哪吒), also known as Santaizi (the Third Prince, 三太子), to help the campaign run smoothly.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Taipei city councilor candidate Hsieh Chien-ping (謝建平) said his office on Guiyang Street has a broad entrance, which in feng shui symbolizes an open-minded person who is destined for great things, adding that he sent a photograph of the location home to his family in Greater Kaohsiung so they could seek help from gods before he rented the office.
DPP Taipei City councilor candidate Chen Cheng-te (陳正德), a Buddhist, established his campaign office on Saturday, but said he did so without considering feng shui, timing or prayer.
Chen said he focused on keeping the place clean and tidy before asking a Buddhist master from Fo Guang Shan Monastery’s (佛光山) Taipei branch to conduct a purification ceremony and reciting Buddhist scriptures in the office in the hope they would ensure a successful campaign.
Meanwhile, TSU Taipei City Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) is among those who did not consider feng shui. He designed his campaign office — loaned to him by a supporter — as a coffee shop so people can drop by and chat over a drink.
KMT candidate Hsu Hung-ting (徐弘庭) also brushed off the fact that his office at the intersection of Muhsin and Hsinglong roads faces a stretch of road, a position considered inauspicious according to feng shui.
He said that as a young candidate, he felt fortunate to find an office.
Hsu has no deities in his office, but instead put up an Iron Man cutout, which he said endeared him to children in the area, adding that sometimes children in Spiderman costumes come over to take photographs with the superhero.
Additional reporting by You Pei-ju, Yeh Kuan-yu and Wu Liang-yi
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