Liu Guang-xin, a police officer at the Qigu police substation of the Jiali precinct in Tainan County, became an expert in geomancy after spending many years researching it, though he initially did not believe in the art.
It is not uncommon in Taiwan to see phony sorcerers involved in religious scams. Since the police need solid evidence when solving cases, Liu, who has been a police officer for many years, had never given the least bit of credence to fortunetelling, even intentionally seeking out fortunetellers to try to figure out how they were manipulating words and facts to make people believe them.
But nine years ago, after he met Liu Jin-han, a famous geomancer from the Chinese Geomancer Association, he developed a deep interest in geomancy and started learning the mystical art from Liu, eventually becoming a member of the association.
He later on earned a reputation as a "semi-prophet" among his colleagues for making an accurate predication of the results of the severe traffic accident involving Shao Xiao-ling, the wife of Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu, four years ago, and former President Chen Shui-bian's second-term election in 2004. After that he would occasionally receive requests from his colleagues to help them solve various problems.
In a recent missing persons case filed at his police station, Liu first asked the person who said his mother was missing to utter the first three numbers that came to mind, and then, based on the order of the numbers, he recommended that the person head to temples in mountainous areas in Tainan County to search for his mother. Not long after that, Liu received a call that the missing person had been found.
Liu said researching and studying geomancy is purely an individual interest. As a police officer who is supposed to look after the public, he is willing to do what he can to help people. He said judging a place's fengshui or telling someone's fortune is the type of service he is willing to provide both in his professional and personal life in order to help others, adding that if he is not certain of something, he will not open his mouth for fear of misleading people.
"If I am able to, however, helping people gives a great sense of accomplishment," he said.
Liu commented that on many levels geomancy is very mysterious and cannot be explained. As such, students need to study the art incessantly. He is especially furious at seeing fake geomancy "masters" who scam the public, adding that he hopes his in-depth research into the art can provide an example to remind the public that they should not panic when they encounter a problem. Rather, they should listen, look and ask lots of questions, ensuring that they do not fall prey to a cheat.
(This article originally appeared in The Liberty Times June 9.)