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  • Check out that building with a hole in it.

  • Here in Hong Kong there are dragons floating everywhere. You can't really see

  • them, because you know they're dragons. They actually live up in the mountains

  • and they come down into the water and when you block them from entering the

  • water you end up really messing up your luck.

  • So they have accommodated this

  • situation by putting holes in the buildings so that the dragons can fly

  • through.

  • These are called dragon gates and they are one of many examples of how

  • Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese practice, is affecting the skyline of Hong Kong.

  • So Feng Shui is this ancient Chinese belief, superstition. The basic idea is

  • that there is good energy out there floating around, good luck, good fortune

  • called Qi and if you arrange your physical environment in an optimal way,

  • you can channel that good luck in the best way and things will go good for you.

  • This usually takes the form of like furniture, interior design but here in

  • Hong Kong, it has affected the skyline.

  • Alright, first let's look at this HSBC building.

  • The Hong Kong Shanghai Bank was

  • founded back in the days of pirates and opium barons.

  • First thing you'll notice is

  • that it's nicely squared off, with the mountains in the back and harbor in the

  • front.

  • This is really good composition for the

  • Qi to flow.

  • Not only is the lobby elevated but it's also the escalators

  • are at this angle. It's kind of a weird looking angle. That's intentional as well,

  • because it's actually meant to fend off the bad luck as it's coming through this

  • hole in the bottom of the building.

  • And then of course the opposite is true; if

  • you don't arrange your physical environment in an optimal way, then bad

  • luck will befall you.

  • Right next door is the Communist Bank of Red China.

  • The developers of this building explicitly ignored the Feng Shui masters who were

  • concerned that the sharp angles of this design would cut the good Qi and create

  • bad luck for all of the surrounding buildings.

  • The people who thought this

  • had their suspicions reinforced when shortly after the building was complete,

  • bad stuff started happening around it.

  • Like to this neighboring building, which

  • has been riddled with financial insecurity, corporate collapse, bankruptcies,

  • since it's very beginning. And Feng Shui masters have come out and cited the bad

  • Feng Shui of the area as a major cause for these events.

  • Governor of Hong Kong

  • at the time, whose house sits in the shadow of this building, died of a fatal

  • heart attack just one year after this building was complete.

  • So the HSBC

  • building, in response, put up these maintenance cranes that actually look

  • like cannons and they're pointed right at the Bank of China, in order to combat

  • all of this bad luck that's coming from this sharp building.

  • When developers are designing and putting up these buildings, they hire

  • these Feng Shui consultants. They spend millions of dollars on consultants who

  • will give them advice and approve their design decisions, to make sure that

  • they're in keeping with good Feng Shui.

  • Out here in Disneyland Hong Kong, the

  • Feng Shui masters said that the entrance was in a bad position for keeping good

  • luck in the park.

  • So they shifted the entrance by 12

  • degrees in order to create a blockade from the good luck escaping the park and

  • ruining the prosperity of this place.

  • Feng Shui comes from China, mainland

  • China, but during the Cultural Revolution China kind of stamped out some of these

  • old practices that they believed were holding the society back. And Feng Shui

  • fell victim to that, but Hong Kong at that time was ruled by the British. It

  • was a British colony, so it didn't fall subject to that Cultural Revolution and

  • Feng Shui was preserved in a very mainstream way.

  • Check out this building,

  • it's the Hopewell Center.

  • When this thing went up, people freaked out because it

  • kind of looked like a candle or like a smoking cigarette. They put a swimming

  • pool on the top, in order to extinguish the fire and make sure that it didn't

  • mess with the good luck of the city.

  • The government takes this stuff really

  • seriously too. Between 2011 and 2016 they paid out $1.1 million dollars in

  • Feng Shui disturbance subsidies.

  • This is paid out to people who complain that new

  • constructions disrupt their Fung Shui and they get compensated by the

  • government. So next time you are crossing this harbor to look at these beautiful

  • buildings, just remember that Feng Shui is at is at play in Hong Kong's skyline.

Check out that building with a hole in it.

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