Many local Chinese officials are turning to the ancient practice of Fengshui, or Chinese geomancy, in a desperate bid to get promoted, a dubious practice which has encouraged a wave of modern day geomancers.

Fengshui was widely used in ancient times to plan the arrangements of tombs and houses to create a harmonious relationship between man and nature.

Zeng Xianbai, 75, is a renowned geomancy master from Sanliao Village in Xingguo County in southern Jiangxi Province. Although he only has a primary school education, his "talent" for geomancy has gained him both a reputation and money. He frequently offers a consulting service to clients as far afield as Shanghai and Guangdong Province.

"Most of my clients are local officials," Zeng said. "My work is mainly about planning and design, including the location of an office door, how to arrange the furniture, and buying lucky charms." When asked about his fee, Zeng said, "It depends. Sometimes it may be 100 yuan, sometimes it may reach 10,000 yuan."

According to village head Zeng Qingwei, there are more than 200 geomancers in their "geomancy village", most of whom "work" in other provinces and earn a lot of money. Some have even purchased apartments in big cities like Guangzhou, and others own a BMW or Mercedes-Benz.

Cheng Ping, a researcher at the Social and Cultural Teaching and Research Department of the Chinese Academy of Governance, has conducted a survey of over 900 Chinese county-level officials about their attitude towards geomancy.The result shows that 52.4 percent of those officials believe geomancers can help them with promotion.

Professor Liu Su from Hunan University also holds a critical view. He said that some officials are not interested in strengthening local governance or training themselves at the grassroots level, but rely on superstition to determine their career and fate. Furthermore, as officials control public power, their individual behavior affects government actions.

Zhou Lin, Party secretary of Wanli District in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, thinks that the irrational phenomenon reflects the lack of fairness and transparency in cadre selection in some areas.

Ouyang Feng, Party secretary of Zhangyi Country, Hunan Province, believes that the "mass line" is the lifeline of the Party, which requires CPC officials and members to strengthen their ties with the people and work for the people's interests.

"If we expand the people's supervision of local government, I think the trend of local officials relying on geomancy or other superstitions could fade away," Ouyang said.

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