Analysis of Interview

As we can see from the interview, feng shui is surprisingly not fading away in the younger generation; in fact, it is starting to bloom as a belief and as a commercial business as well. Since the mostly Chinese dominated population of Singapore believes in Feng Shui not just as a superstition, but as a belief that can change one's luck and fortune, Feng Shui is definitely on the rise in terms of commercial business.

From the interview, we can see that more and more people are showing keen interest in the area of Feng Shui, even to the extent of taking up lessons to improve their understanding of Feng Shui. Many more are approaching masters for advice on the proper placing of decorations in their homes and others resorting to buying Feng Shui items such as lucky crystals in hope for a change of luck and prosperity. Hence, this also results in exploitation of Feng Shui as an avenue to earn money from the mostly ignorant public by 'fake' masters self acclaimed to have helped many people. This is true in Singapore, with many cases relating to conmen convincing the elderly to buy lucky 'stones' from them as it will help in a change of fortune when it is just a normal pebble.

Furthermore, even in this new age of globalization, where westernization and their culture are starting to affect many countries worldwide in terms of media, food and music etc. , we can safely say that our rich Chinese heritage and culture, in this case, the Chinese beliefs and superstitions, are still very much preserved and practiced.

Why is this so? Analyzing this unexpected trend, it is probably due to the fact that teenagers, although vastly influenced by western culture, choose to stick to their own tradition and maintain their roots. One of the factors is due to the upbringing of their parents who spread and stressed the importance of such Chinese beliefs. Furthermore, there is evidence itself that feng shui works with great results, for example, as stated in the interview, the shifting of the paragon, which resulted in a complete change from a dead city to a blooming place.

Another factor is also because teenagers feel that there is no harm in believing in feng shui. Since there is evidence for all to show that feng shui works, teenagers feel that so long as it does not bring huge inconvenience to change one's luck, why not just heed feng shui advice?

Looking at the difference between the younger and older generation in terms of their beliefs in feng shui, one thing for sure is that education has greatly changed the mindsets of the younger generation. This can be seen from the interview, whereby the older generation seeks feng shui advice in search for instant success and wealth whereby the younger generation seeks advice mainly for the designs and decorations at their homes for better luck in their jobs.

Here, it is obvious that the more educated younger generation belief that hard work and seizing of opportunities in jobs or any other area is still the key to success, and that feng shui does not guarantee a person immediate success, it merely change one's luck, in terms of good business opportunities and having one's hard work paid off. They seek feng shui advice for a peace of mind. However, the older generation choose to belief that only when one adheres to the beliefs in feng shui and other superstitions, then one's success is guaranteed. Hence, education in the new age of the world has changed the mindsets of young people, whom although still firmly belief in feng shui, do not rely on it independently in their jobs or careers for success.

As a conclusion, Chinese beliefs are not fading away in the younger generation, in fact, there is merely a change of mindset in the way the younger generation look at such beliefs and how they choose to use it.