Property prices may often fluctuate, but one contributing factor remains constant in Lim Lian Hong’s eyes: the influence of feng shui.
For 40 years, Lim has worked as a property valuer in Malaysia. Whenever he speaks to Chinese clients, one of the foremost things on their minds is whether their future homes have good qi, or energy.
Also known as Chinese geomancy, the concept of feng shui originated in China and has its roots in Daoism (Taoism). Feng means “wind” and shui means “water,” and the term connotes the belief that arranging furniture in a particular way at home, choosing the placement of a home’s entrances and exits, and creating an ideal external orientation can promote a good flow of qi.
Lim’s customers are often looking for addresses with the lucky number 8 or a location on the eighth floor of an apartment building; the Mandarin pronunciation of eight, ba, sounds similar to fa, the Chinese word that describes accruing wealth.
Potential homeowners or the feng shui masters they hire may also study a house’s interior layout, examining a bagua map to evaluate the energy levels of a home. Shaped as a square or rectangle, each of the nine areas of analysis on the map represents a particular aspect of a person’s life, like family, finances, fame, relationships, or career. When overlaid onto the floor plan, the bagua map can indicate areas of improvement that increase the qi within a space.
Lim, who worships at Full Gospel Assembly in the city of Petaling Jaya, has had firsthand experience with how this philosophy is incorporated into everyday life. Once, his office manager called renovators in to change the position of the door because he felt this would improve his fortunes. When a new office space opened, his boss told him not to arrive at a certain time to prevent bad luck from entering.
In many parts of Asia, the Lunar New Year is a popular time for people to implement feng shui–related advice in hopes of enjoying greater prosperity. For example, this Year of the Snake, one Hong Kong–based feng shui consultant recommends people pay more attention to the west corner of their homes to “enhance” career and educational growth and use copper coins to minimize bad energy.
Other common ways to achieve good feng shui year-round include placing a water feature in a home’s entrance to attract good fortune or hanging a mirror in the dining room to “expand” the family’s capacity for affluence.
A person can experience the benefits of feng shui—most often in the form of material gain or career advancement—when he or she balances yin and yang energy well, blocking negative qi and allowing positive qi to generate.
Most of the leaders CT interviewed say that Christians in Asia have adopted some feng shui principles in the way their homes are designed or arranged, whether consciously or otherwise. But they also warned against Christians utilizing feng shui without careful consideration, because the concept contains spiritual beliefs contrary to Christianity.
In China, the government branded feng shui as superstition and persecuted feng shui masters during the Cultural Revolution. Tolerance toward the practice then grew in the ’80s, and nearly half of Chinese adults now believe in feng shui according to a Pew Research Center report from 2023.
In Indonesia, the major newspaper Kompas regularly features articles on feng shui in its lifestyle and trend columns. In Singapore and Malaysia, businessmen and property agents regularly consult feng shui masters in hopes that the properties they buy or sell will bring them success. In the Philippines, feng shui masters issue fortune predictions every Lunar New Year and sell charms or objects to improve one’s well-being and riches.
Iconic city landmarks, such as Singapore’s Fountain of Wealth, were also built with this theory in mind. The circular fountain’s jets of water intentionally flow inward to represent the riches that are poured into a person’s life. (Outside of Asia, feng shui has also influenced the design of iconic buildings, like the Louvre in Paris and the Sydney opera house.)
Filipino Chinese Christians are attracted to feng shui because they are pragmatic, said Stewart Young, a retired history professor in the Philippines. They often have a mindset of “whatever works. … It doesn’t hurt you to try,” said Young.
The muddling of boundaries between the practical and the spiritual may make it hard for Christians to discern whether they are veering into feng shui territory or not. Some believers might think feng shui is harmless or neutral since it often suggests common-sense tweaks to improve a home’s overall appeal, said Kwa Kiem-Kiok, associate professor at Singapore Bible College.
For instance, people may install water features in their homes not because water can counter evil forces but because they like “the restful sound of tinkling water,” Kwa said.
A feng shui master may also advise a person to change the orientation of some furniture to face a particular direction to “bring you luck and quicker promotion,” said a house church pastor in Shanghai who is not using his name for security reasons.
This might very well boost a person’s job prospects, possibly because that person receives more sunlight and gets better sleep. But the problem is that feng shui imbues certain furniture arrangements with a “mystic power” to engender a positive impact, he said.
Some who were once steeped in feng shui beliefs have rescinded them after accepting Christ and recognizing darker spiritual forces at play behind this philosophy.
In his 20s, Yuen Po Seng, a pastor at Every Nation Church Gateway in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, started practicing feng shui to help him advance in his life and career, he shared in a 2021 sermon.
But immersing himself in feng shui only made Yuen feel more burdened and stressed. He kept consulting a feng shui master before making big life decisions and constantly wondered if it was a favorable time to do something.
When Yuen gave his life to Jesus, he decided to stop practicing feng shui. “I just felt that God has revealed to me that I need not have to struggle in life on my own,” he said.
Feng shui is a pseudoscience that relies on spiritual forces, argues Daniel Tong, the Singaporean author of A Biblical Approach to Feng Shui and Divination.
Early feng shui arose from observing natural science: the geographical landscape, the moon’s gravitational impact, and the rising and setting sun. Today, it draws primarily from ancient Chinese philosophies like qi “rather than scientific observations and facts, resulting in practices more akin to the supernatural,” Tong told CT.
Feng shui also privileges self-autonomy rather than reliance on God. “It is humanity seeking to control [and] manipulate its own life and future,” Tong said.
Harnessing qi through attaining good feng shui implies a dependence on our physical environments for spiritual well-being, said Amos Winarto Oei, the public theology lecturer at Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Aletheia, a seminary in Lawang, Indonesia. This clashes with the Christian understanding of God’s sovereignty and provision, he said.
Oei grew up in an Indonesian Chinese family and experienced how feng shui was deeply embedded in certain cultural customs. At Lunar New Year, he was prohibited from throwing anything outside, as doing so would supposedly dispose of any fortune in the house. The kitchen in his home was always situated right at the back of the property because his family believed this would prevent any wealth from leaving his home.
But Bible verses like Isaiah 45:7 (ESV), where God declares that he makes well-being and creates calamity, reflecting God’s control over all aspects of life, challenges the belief that physical arrangements can alter one’s fate, Oei said.
And when envisioning what their homes can look like, believers can consider imagining them as holy spaces instead.
In Deuteronomy 6:6–9, God commands Israel to write his commandments on “the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” During Lunar New Year, some believers’ homes may display spring couplets with Christian themes on their doorposts, Kwa said, bearing phrases like “The Lord watches all those who enter this place.”
Kwa’s pastor husband is also regularly asked to perform house blessings for new homeowners. One of the main reasons for doing so is to perform a spiritual cleanse, as a home may have been previously owned by someone who worshiped other gods. Other Singaporean pastors suggest doing office blessings as a way to counter feng shui practices in the workplace.
In John 14:2, Jesus describes how his Father’s house has many rooms as an assurance of God’s abundant, everlasting love and presence. Feng shui principles that extol a clean and orderly home may contribute to a welcoming environment, but a believer’s ultimate focus is to create a space that reflects God’s love and grace, Oei said, rather than relying on superstitions or spiritual energies.
Young, the retired Filipino professor, lived in a home situated at a T-junction in New Jersey many years ago. His family’s Chinese friends would tell them it was one of the least auspicious places to live in. According to feng shui, the flow of qi gets crossed and confused at a junction and may cause people to face indecision and feel stuck in life.
Young and his family responded by quoting Scripture: “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). They prayed over their house and dedicated it to the Lord. They invited church friends over regularly and held Bible studies and gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some people said that they felt “so peaceful” every time they visited.
Lim, the Malaysian property valuer, continues to encounter feng shui concepts daily in his work. While he believes that Christians should not indulge in feng shui or consult its practitioners to “bless” their property, he thinks it is “foolish” for believers in Asia to be ignorant of the concept, especially if they want to sell their homes at a good price or increase their value.
“The Bible says we must have wisdom,” Lim said. “So we use wisdom to govern our lives.”
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