Trip to a Overseas Tianlu Shop

As those who have traveled to this particular Asian country under tour package would know, one item under the guided tour itinerary is to visit a shop selling Tianlu, what we commonly called Pixiu (the ancient creature known to symbolise wealth accumulation) locally. Many of my friends and relatives who came this country before have bought some of these Tianlu statues during their visit to the shop, two of them even spent a few thousand dollars. The shop's sales tactics are very good and the tour agencies will get some commission or something for bringing the tourists there.

Anyway, we sat down and the master went on to explain the 5 elements and the relation with the Chinese name as well as bazi. After explaining the importance of owning a Tianlu to boost our luck and prosperity, he handed over the presentation to another master (this time a lady). She asked us to write down our Chinese names and birth dates and then proceeded to analyse our names one at a time. Nothing really special about my name and my wife's name, since our parents did not consult any name selection master back in those days. I can tell that the master is quite good in name selection as she can know the number of strokes and elements of the Chinese characters almost immediately, at the tips of her fingers. When it came to my daughter's name, she asked: “You have consulted a master for your daughter's name?” No, I replied, pretending not to know anything about Chinese metaphysics. She continued: “But her name is really good, the strokes combination of the character, the elements, etc, are all auspicious. She is very fortunate to have such a name”. Of course, the dad have painstakingly selected the name for her. “Even though you have chosen the name yourselves, surely an expert must have taken a look at it before deciding on it.” I shook my head and assured her this is not the case.

The master then went to analyse our bazi, which she will then recommended some suitable Tianlu to improve our luck by alleviating the imbalance in our bazi. By the way, their products are not cheap. Prices can range from a ten of thousands to a hundred Singapore dollars (the small one to hang on the mobile phone). But to my surprise, she got the favorable and unfavorable elements of all three bazi wrong completely. I cannot imagine how many people have bought a Tianlu here, thinking that it complements their bazi when in the first place, it is not.

To cut the story short, I left without buying anything. The reason I gave them? “Sorry, but I'm a skeptic. I do not believe in such things.” Ironic but true. A great eye opening experience though.

Regards

Alvin Chua