14 DAY TRIAL // A famous Hong Kong feng shui master died in a mudslide on Sunday afternoon, while he was providing services to a client at a cemetery.
Zheng Guoqiang had been invited by the family of recently deceased De Meng, 75, to a cemetery in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province, to try and identify the perfect burial plot for the grave of their relative.
Zheng was with a Taoist, surname Wu, and other people at the time of the accident. They were surveying the area to find an appropriate location for the grave. The feng shui master reportedly took the members of the deceased man's family to a place he considered fit for their relative's last resting place when the mudslide happened due to the rainstorms in recent days.
According to Daily Mail, a person who survived the terrible accident said that two family members, the feng shui master, the Taoist and three cemetery workers were all buried alive. Five of them died at the scene, and the other two were sent to the hospital. Unfortunately, one died upon arrival, but the survivor is in stable condition.
Massive rainstorms struck China's southern provinces last week and caused massive damages. At least 10 people died in Guangdong province alone.
It is well known that the city of Hong Kong is extremely overcrowded – the fourth most densely populated place in the world –, so the land shortages forced people to exploit even the steepest slopes and use them as burial places.
The cemetery where this unfortunate incident happened was such a location, and the steep slopes caused the landslide and burial.
Given that land is so scarce in Hong Kong, tens of thousands of people are unable to lay their dead relatives to rest because of a lack of burial plots. And when they do manage to find a spot, many feel the need to ask for an expert's opinion.
Zheng Guoqiang was regarded as one of the most famous feng shui experts in Hong Kong, so he was frequently asked to share his expertise and help people in taking decisions concerning different aspects of their lives.
Feng shui is a Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing the human existence with the surrounding environment and is widely used in the country to orient buildings, including spiritually significant structures such as tombs, in a favorable manner based on local features such as water, stars, or via a compass.