When you are in Ganzhou, visit the scenic Sanliao village located in the north of Bailu village.

The village crowns itself as the origin of feng shui theories.

Among the feng shui masters from the village are those who have chosen the sites for Beijing's Forbidden City and tombs of past emperors.

When one looks from afar, one is supposed to be able to see the perfect line-up of the village houses, shaped like a Chinese dragon, with very strong claws.

The village also has fortune-tellers who will offer to dissect your name, your zodiac sign, your birthday and wedding day.

And unless you follow a fortune-teller into the village now lined with newly erected mystic feng shui symbols and tablets, you will very likely be oblivious to the good omens, like how a water pond gathers good qi from the mountains and a family wall puts off evil spirits.

These fortune-tellers will imbue in you with time-honored rules of feng shui that may one day come in handy: Place an elephant in your house, it's the most auspicious animal; put a gourd at home, it gathers good fortune; if you have golden toad figurines, their mouths should face the safe so that you will accumulate more wealth.

There are so many rules. Unless one is a professional, one can't remember all of them. But there is one wise sentence to take away with you: Nobody but the gods can determine your fate, but good virtues work a very long way.

(China Daily 08/11/2013 page16)