Don’t try new tricks this Year of the Dog, as it favours those who stick to convention, Hong Kong fortune-tellers say
Their advice: Conservatism is the way to go this ‘double earth’ year, while the city’s leader and justice minister, likely to have a bumpy road ahead, should keep cool and face challenges bravely
This Year of the Dog will be an auspicious one for Hongkongers who play safe and stick to convention, but for others who are less prudent and more progressive, their fortunes could literally go to the dogs.
“It is a year of double earth. And it favours those who are conversative or the rise of social conservatism,” renowned Hong Kong-based soothsayer Raymond Lo Hang-lap said.
Thursday is the last day in the year of the Fire Rooster, with the Lunar New Year on Friday ushering in the year of the Earth Dog.
Popularly known as “Feng Shui Lo”, he predicts people’s fortunes through complex calculations of how the five elements – metal, earth, water, wood, and fire – interact based on the movement of the Sun and Moon to create auspicious or inauspicious forces.
Lo anticipated that the city’s pan-democrats would find themselves “being obstructed” when they tried to block government policies they disagreed with.
The “grandmaster” from the Singapore-based International Feng Shui Association, said: “The Earth Dog is a massive mountain. It could block your way. That means you might encounter obstacles and you would need to make efforts to remove them.”
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Referring to the election authorities’ disqualification of several pan-democrat candidates for the March 11 by-elections, Lo warned it was only the start of what was likely to be a bad year though he stopped short of making further predictions on how the opposition camp might fare.
But he and other fortune-tellers consulted by the Post were more upbeat about the economy.
Industries that would do relatively better in the Year of the Dog were those related to the environment, fashion and education, they said.
With the fiery vestiges of the rooster year fading out, the Hong Kong economy would start slowing down in the second half of the year, they predicted, though they brushed off worries of a market meltdown.
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This was partly because of the good luck enjoyed by China’s leader, Xi Jinping.
Lo said: “China will do fine. It is a year of smooth luck for President Xi Jinping, whose favourable elements are metal and earth. Hong Kong can be blessed too.”
Wong Tai Sin Temple fortune-teller Priscilla Lam said any economic volatility the city faced would be partly due to “trouble in the United States”.
“President Donald Trump, who was born in the Year of the Dog, could expect to face many obstructions in pushing through his policies,” Lam, who shot to fame in 2016 after predicting that Trump would win the US election, said.
“But Trump is a lucky man. He should be able to make it, despite some bumps in the road,” she added.
The Post decided to test the god Wong Tai Sin’s “magic powers” by visiting the temple and drawing a fortune stick for President Xi, to see if it would match predictions.
Number 90, which represents “medium luck”, was drawn.
Sammy Cheung, who specialises in interpreting the messages attached to fortune sticks, said: “China should reach out and cooperate with other countries. It is not going to be easy. But a hard beginning makes a good ending.”
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As for the city’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, fortune-teller Wong Kwok-kuen, who specialises in the Chinese zodiac, said: “It could be a tough year for her, especially in the first half of the year. The Year of the Dog is not a good year for those in government.”
His advice? “If Lam can put something red at the southeastern corner of her office, it may help,” Wong said.
As she was born in the Year of Rooster in 1957, Lam would face many unexpected problems this year, Cheung said. He said she should “handle it in a fair and just manner, keep a cool head”.
The soothsayers also warned of a troublesome year ahead for justice minister Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, who was recently mired in a scandal over illegal structures on her properties and then dragged into a row over the disqualification of the pan-democrat candidates.
Lo warned that Cheng, who was born in the Year of the Dog, would face high work pressure despite an “unexpected promotion”.
Cheung’s advice to her was: “Face the difficulties bravely, without procrastination”.
