Feng Shui items: Mixed gold and brass

(Baonghean) - As the year draws to a close, the goods market becomes increasingly vibrant. Besides essential items, feng shui items are gaining popularity among people from all walks of life, especially business owners. Capitalizing on this feng shui craze, some vendors have disregarded reputation and ethical business practices, mixing counterfeit goods into their stalls, creating chaos and making it difficult for customers to verify the authenticity of the items.

Customers are looking to buy feng shui items.

Feng shui items are diverse in type, ranging from sculpted mascots made from various materials to crystal spheres, water features, stone paintings, and more. During the end-of-year season, visiting feng shui shops on Dinh Cong Trang Street, Chu Van An Street, and at Big C Supermarket, one is overwhelmed by the sheer number of items in various shapes, colors, and prices. According to the shop owners, all of them are believed to bring good fortune and prosperity to the homeowner.

Some shops proactively stocked up on goods two or three months in advance to meet customer demand during the year-end season. The goods come from a variety of sources, including China, Thailand, and Brazil, resulting in varying quality and prices. This is what easily confuses customers when buying these items, especially when sellers use deceptive language and flowery language about their auspicious effects and wealth-bringing properties. Each item is said to have a different effect; for example, the golden toad is believed to bring wealth and fortune, while the Ruyi scepter is said to bring good luck in all endeavors. In particular, Pixiu statues are usually sold in pairs, as the male Pixiu attracts wealth, while the female Pixiu is believed to be a pillar of wealth. Similarly, cabbage symbolizes fertility, abundance, and prosperity. Beyond just selling, these shops offer consultation services depending on customer needs. Simply provide your birth year, and the seller will readily recommend which type to buy, where to place it in your home, how to neutralize negative influences, and how to utilize positive ones. Many sellers even claim that the level of counterfeit craftsmanship has reached a "level" of authenticity, making them indistinguishable from the real thing in terms of design and appearance. Sometimes, even the sellers themselves can be mistaken for the real thing without mastering the "tricks" of evaluation and analysis.

Upon further investigation, shop owners revealed that genuine feng shui items do exist, but they are rare and usually only found in reputable, large-scale stores due to their high prices. Most of the items circulating on the market are from China – made using compressed stone powder technology, with attractive and diverse designs, and affordable prices, making them very appealing to customers. Mr. Nguyen Hoang Ngoc (5th floor - Le Loi Apartment Building), influenced by shop advice and attracted by the "visual appeal," bought a fake item. He shared: "I heard that quartz stones can ward off evil spirits, so I bought one for nearly 5,000,000 VND. Unexpectedly, after half a month, the stone changed color and had a very unpleasant smell. It's a case of losing money and getting nothing in return." Later, he decided to investigate thoroughly to learn from the experience, only to discover that the quartz crystal was actually just industrial stone powder pressed into a mold and then magically "made to look beautiful," appearing very sophisticated and elaborate on the outside, but in reality, it was a refurbished item. Not only Mr. Ngoc, but many people who buy feng shui items without equipping themselves with basic feng shui knowledge are not only deceived, but the haphazard placement of these items in their homes also detracts from aesthetics and can have many negative effects.

From a scientific perspective, feng shui is an applied science, not simply a hobby or spiritual belief as many people think. Vietnamese people should use auspicious symbols associated with their own culture, as these are compatible with the local environment and culture, thus having a positive effect on Vietnamese life. Many wealthy people become overly concerned with foreign things, failing to understand this, which distorts feng shui and negatively impacts their lives.

Hoang Vu

(Vinh City)