《that’s shanghai》 3/2012
NAME DROPPER  国际著名风水师著名起名专家中国风水学院上海风水协会赵易上海起名大师取名公司起名房地产风水大师宝宝起名公司取名专家

Meet the feng shui master who made his name by choosing yours

BY TONGFEI ZHANG AND HART HUGUET HAGERTY

People are living better lives and they want better names to accompany them

Feng shui master Zhao Yi (趙易)offers a number of services: fortune telling, feng shui consulting, naming companies and naming people. He has named and renamed over 2,000people to date and, with the Year of the Dragon upon us, anticipates naming many more over the next 12 months Here, he explains the significance of names, how he goes about choosing them and why China’s name game is changing.

So tell us…what’s in a name?

There’s an old Chinese saying “a name equals your fate,”meaning a name is closely connected with you for your entire life. Fate is the most important thing in life. It is comprised of Yin Yang and the five elements (wuxing).Similarly, Chinese characters also have Yin Yang and the five elements. A person’s fate does not have all five elements; there is always something missing, so the characters in  name can be a supplement that fulfills which of the five elements someone’s fate is lacking and restore balance.

How do you manage to fit a baby’s name with its fate?

I spend two or three days studying how the baby’s birth date, hour of birth, family names and other factors all fit together with characters. To understand characters, it is crucial to be proficient with their origins because each character has a root in the five elements, For example, the character for ‘sky’ belongs to metal, ‘earth’ belongs to earth of course and ‘person’ is a compound of all five elements. After my analysis, I make several combinations then finally present my three best choices to the parents.

How do you think your own name worked out with fate?

My name is my original name. It’s an odd coincidence that there’s a character ‘yi’(易) in my name, the same as the ‘yi’ in Yi jing(易经)，the Chinese literary classic about Yin Yang I studied for so  long. Furthermore the ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ characters together make ‘yi,’ which represents the universe and Yin Yang. I’d say it’s destiny.

Have you seen a lot of Dragon Babies in your office lately?

Very many, indeed. People desperately want to have Dragon Babies(long baobao龙宝宝). However, many people were misled by media reports and thought as long as their babies are born after January 1,they are Dragon Babies. In fact, in traditional Chinese culture neither New Year’s Day nor Spring Festival marks the start of the Dragon horoscope. It’s actually the first day of spring Festival marks the start of the Dragon horoscope. It’s actually the first day of spring, so only babies born on or after that day are real long baobao. 

Why are Dragon Babies so desirable?Do they have better fates?

No, not really. People want long baobao so much because of their intense admiration of the dragon totem. But a Dragon Baby isn’t necessarily better off than, say, a Rabbit Baby.

Besides the Dragon Baby boom, has your business increased with China’s growing  economy?

The more powerful our economy is, the more optimistic I feel about this industry. Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’ says people will only seek spiritual needs once their material needs are fulfilled. The name-giving business is both material and spiritual and, thanks to the economy, people are living better lives and they want better names to accompany them.

Has the name-giving field changed at all since you began?

The industry is a bit of mess right now because many people are choosing names themselves with these websites that offer free online naming through computer programming [users insert basic information and preferences and the website automatically generates many names]. The names might be trendy, but, in my eyes, they’re just meaningless because you can’t find any basis for these characters. I’m a little concerned about this phenomenon.

What about names themselves?Have there been any trends?

Boys’ and girls’ names should be different so that people are able to tell the gender from the name. But as the sexes are becoming more equal, girls’ names are no longer what they used to be. Historically, doys’ names sound stronger and girls’ names sound softer, but this is changing with the time. Now girls’ names might be soft, but they should never be weak.

Do parents try to influence you?

Once a client insisted on giving her daughter a very fashionable name, saying “the more stylish, the better.” I told her it couldn’t be trendier than the name I chose and said, “You can’t name her a cutesie weibo username or your daughter will blame me when she grows up.” I have to draw the line somewhere.

Shanghai Naming Creative Co. Ltd 上海酿名创意有限公司Rm 1402, Block 5, Lane 1258 Zhongxing Lu, by Gonghe xin lu 中兴路1258弄北方佳苑5号楼1402室，近共和新路（56321238， www.cctuv.com）

ZHAO YI’S SERVICE MENU

Name creation or name change:RMB1,980 per Person; for twins, RMB2,280 each; RMB2,980 for foreigners

Company name creation:RMB5,600/9,600/18,600(depending on the company size)

Assessment of a name’s luch:RMB980

Fortune telling(10-year forecast):RMB2,980

Analysis of best timing for a baby’s birth:RMB1,980