Emperor's New Clothe: Mountain Edition

In my previous blog,  I wrote about green tombs in China.  This edition shows how some barren mountains in China become green.

At first, I think all these "greening" of stuff is a recent Chinese invention.  Upon further research,  it is a quite "old" practice.  The following photos pretty much "tell" the story itself.

In May, 2004, in Dìngxī city of Gansu Province, a barren hill was painted green for a local celebration.
2004年5月，甘肃定西市陇西县仁寿山公园，为了迎接农历初八的朝山会，将没有长草的山体涂上了绿颜料。

In June, 2004, Shenzhen city government (Guangdong province) had spent RMB$1 million (US$160k) to make a mountain "green". 
2004年6月，深圳芙蓉工业区的芙蓉尾山上，当地政府实施山体刷绿工程，整体耗资100万元。

In February, 2007,  in a county of Yunnan province, the broken part of a mountain due to mining was painted green.  

2007年2月，云南富民县勤劳乡梨华村，采石出现的山体缺口，被涂上绿漆

In October, 2008, a town in Guangdong province had spent over RMB$100k+ to buy green nets to cover up barren hills, arid land and illegal structures, to cheat on satellite inspection of "re-green"  (afforestation) effort. 

2008年10月，广东东莞横沥镇六甲村，为应付卫星复绿检查，花费十几万购买绿网，铺在荒地、山石及违建上。

In July of 2010,  in a county of Yunnan Province,  tombs along a hill were either painted green or covered up with a green or black camouflage net.  Reporter found out this was due to a afforestation campaign. 

2010年7月，云南昆明市宜良县，从宜良县城往狗街路上，两侧山上坟墓墓碑要么被刷上一层绿油漆，要么披上绿或黑的伪装网。记者采访获知，这是宜良在推进城乡园林绿化工作。

From fake eggs to fake Rolex, it is no surprise that we can find fake green mountains in China. Faking a green mountain is much quicker than planting trees and waiting for the mountain to turn green naturally.  Local government officials can claim credit much quicker and earn political capital for further advancement.

Everyone knows the new green clothe is fake except the "emperor",  At the minimal, this reversal of "emperor's new clothe" practice has been going on since 2004.

What is the connection between fake green mountains and Chinese metaphysics?  

In the last 20 years, we have seen many "new", "long lost" or "family heirloom"  metaphysics theories and manuscripts from China.  They cover topics like Bazi, Yi-jing, Feng Shui, QMDJ and the likes.  How real or authentic are these "new" export from China?  

The answer to this question is not optimistic if you see Chinese citizens swarm Hong Kong and Japan to buy basic necessities like baby formula and even rice.  They do not trust China products sold in China largely due to safety concerns and counterfeit problems.

People argue about the business ethics or the lack of business ethics in China is a major cause of China's counterfeit problem.  But this is beyond the scope of this blog.

Ken Lai

“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
“Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
“Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth/Career” w/ 7 hr. HD video
“Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques” w/ 6 hr. HD video
“Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
“Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G” w/ 21 hr. video
“EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui”w/ 3 hr. HD
“EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui” with 4 hr. HD video
“Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing” w/ 24 hr video
 “Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
 “4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp” with 12 hr. video
 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
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Emperor's New Clothe: Tomb edition

In 2014, the Chinese town government of Doumenzhen (Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, 绍兴斗门镇杨望村) had ordered the cadres of Yuecheng Village to "re-green" (“复绿”, afforestation) a hill that is occupied by tombs.

That hill is so overcrowded with tombs that it becomes arid with few trees and look "ugly".  It does not reflect well on the local government because national Highway 329 passes through that area and the tombs and barren hill are visible.

The Chinese Communist Party is democratic and considerate.  They gave the local people 3 choices without bothering them for their input:
1.  relocate the tombs 
2.  bulldozer the tombs and plant trees on top of it
3.  remove the tombs, rebury the remains deep below and plant trees ("re-green") on top

The town government officials would inspect and evaluate the result of this "re-green" effort.

No budget is given for any choice.  The locals have to pony up money to do it.

Local villagers did not like any of these choices. Some tombs are pretty old to relocate, not to mention Feng Shui concerns.  But they cannot disobey the great socialist government.

The hill is so barren that it will be difficult to plant trees even if the tombs were removed.

The cadres focused on the "re-green" part and suggested the villagers to paint the tombs facing the Highway 329 green, so that the hill looks "green" from the highway.  The villagers agreed and collected RMB$50,000  (US$ 8000) to buy green paint.

150 tombs facing the highway were painted green.  Even the tombstones were painted green.  It looks as if they let their ancestors celebrate St. Patrick's day or pretend they were immigrants from Ireland (green is the theme color of St. Patrick's day).

This is another proof of "the wisdom of working people" according to Chairman Mao.

Someone has taken pictures of these green tombs and posted it on micro-blog.  A reader comments:
"You ungrateful descendants give your ancestors a green hat!".

River "turns" green during St. Patrick's day

"Give someone a green hat" is the slang for sleeping with someone's wife.

In terms of Feng Shui,  the villagers may give birth to little green man (just kidding!).   They may have some strange skin problems or wood related problem like liver sickness.

Today is March 17.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ken Lai

“Destiny/Luck Mgmt. w/ Bazi- Basic/ Advanced w/18 hr. HD video each
“Advanced Visual Form Feng Shui w/ 23 hr. HD video
“Feng Shui Toolbox: Sha-qi, Health/Wealth & Career” w/ 7 hr. HD video
“Period 7/8 Feng Shui Toolkit w/ Advanced Flying Star techniques” w/ 6 hr. HD video
“Practical Date-Selection Methods (incl. XKDG) w/ 12 hr. video
“Professional Imperial Qi-Men-Dun-Jia 4G” w/ 21 hr. video
“EZ QMDJ series: Astrology, Date/Task Selection, Annual Luck/Feng Shui”w/ 3 hr. HD
“EZ QMDJ Advanced Feng Shui” with 4 hr. HD video
“Daoist Talismans for Feng Shui/Blessing” w/ 24 hr video
 “Practical Door Feng Shui for Wealth” w/ 3 hr. video
 “4-Pillars Forecasting Bootcamp” with 12 hr. video
 http://www.kenlaifengshui.com
 http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com