Yik Wai Chee doesn’t think of himself as a believer.
Yet for years, he has consulted bazi, the ancient Chinese system of elemental forecasting, as a kind of strategic gut check on his life.
“For me, it is just a long-term ‘luck check’ to see if there are general strategies I can adapt to get through some life challenges,” he said. “If it doesn’t cost me at all to adapt to new strategies, I will try it.”
He is careful not to overstate its influence. Bazi sits closer to tarot in its interpretive vagueness than to any hard forecast, he says. It doesn’t drive his decisions so much as occasionally inform them.
But in a region where young professionals are increasingly confronted with hectic schedules, rising living costs and the relentless pressure to get ahead, even interpretive vagueness has its appeal.
Across Southeast Asia, this ancient practice is finding a distinctly modern second life.
Get Joey Yap’s latest insights and updates straight to your inbox.
Article, Feng Shui
Flying Star Feng Shui calculates a chart for a building from its direction and period. Here is what Period 9
Article, BaZi, Channelling Kongming
A Rob Wealth year is usually read as a threat to defend against. Read more carefully, the warning inside it
Article, BaZi
Your Day Master is the one character in a BaZi chart that represents you, out of ten possible types. Here
Article
The Tong Shu is the Chinese almanac used to select auspicious dates. It scores every day by its Day Officer,
