Bad day for Tony Chan, good day for fung shui

On the day self-professed fung shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen was handed another sound defeat in court, Hong Kong's experts in the ancient Chinese art took what they hoped to be a big step towards legitimising their profession.

The timing could not have been better for the International Taoist Feng Shui and Metaphysics Association, which aims to seal Hong Kong's reputation as the capital of fung shui, to hold its inauguration ceremony in Fo Tan yesterday.

Its chairman Szeto Fat-ching said that the establishment of the world's first organisation to regulate fung shui qualifications and oversee practitioners, would hopefully help to counter the run of scandals involving fung shui masters and the Mao Shan art of divination.

'There has been too much negative news about our sector, from young models falling into sex traps by purported fung shui masters, to Tony Chan,' Szeto said. 'We hope that we can create a positive image by regulating the sector.'

The Court of Appeal flatly rejected Chan's second attempt to claim the Chinachem estate of the late Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum. A judge declared that Chan had 'persisted in pursuing a thoroughly dishonest case'. Chan had testified in his first probate battle that his fung shui consultations for Wang had earned him HK$2 billion.

The admission prompted tax inspectors to question the earnings of other fung shui practitioners, with some admitting that they had not considered red-packet payments reportable income.