Five

Like many ordinary Hong Kong citizens, I find the recent story between the billionaire woman and her (possibly) Feng Shui master highly entertaining.

But, in fact, I should not laugh. Have your heard of the five disciplines (五術) of Taoism?

They are: 山、醫、卜、星、相.

For those who are not familiar with the field, "山" means feng shui (and measures to communicate with the other world), "卜" fortune telling for specific events, "星" astrology, and "相" physiognomy and palmistry.

And medicine is merely a humble subject amongst the others.

Of course we have advanced a lot with science. Nonetheless, even some modern practitioners of medicine have not evolved beyond the domain of the five disciplines. Just some days ago, one of my private patients told me how wonderful she received an infusion from a private clinic - the medicine was said to be good for post-operative malnutrition, major depression, heavy metal poisoning, athletic performance, and so forth.

Scum.