Cecil Lee

Leather hat was the official hat worn by the emperor during summons, burning of incense and during sacrificial ceremonies

This Ceremonial Crown: Is a ritual crown worn by Ming emperors at grand ceremonies to offer sacrifices to the heaven and earth; at the ancient temple, to the god of the land and the god of grain and to the god of arming. It is also worn during the Chinese Lunar New Year's Day. Worn also on holy festivals and the conferring of noble titles.

This is the December month in Beijing (Peking). And do know how to differentiate a Chinese dog from other dogs? Well, very easy.. in winter... some owners use left over cheongsam material and cloth their dog... Hopefully, it is not pure silk... else.... wow! We should call this dog: a Regal Dog....

Till today, no one is able to replicate such a refined Emperor's gold crown. Look at the fine quality of the crown! And the most outstanding feature is the "wire mesh" - no current soldering method can ever duplicate such a superb workmanship. A crown made in heaven for the son of heaven (emperor)!

More pictures...

1. The placement of a pair of Lion Statues originated from the Hokkiens of Fujian province. And in the past, it is very popular in Southern part of China. As many homes would place a pair of these lion figurines outside of their door. 2. While if you were to visit Beijing or northern part of China, only palaces or places of worship are most likely to use these Lions. 3. In the South all lion figurines are made of stone. While those as seen in the attached pictures of the Forbidden City, two sets of these lion statues suppose to be made of bronze are placed outside the palace. 4. Following Chinese writing, where characters are written from right to left; the Male Lion figurine is always on the Right side. (if we were to stand facing the figurines). The Female Lion is always on the left side. 5. In these pictures, most likely the bronze figurines are coated in bronze and due to wear and tear, part of the bronze has actually been removed.. 6. The Male figurine is playing with a silk ball. While the Female figurine is playing with a baby lion. 7. Please look at the pictures. The two lions have smiling face! And under symbolism in Feng Shui, any figurines placed or displayed should be well endowed - not undernurished nor fierce looking. 8. The act of these two bronze lions playing and their well endowed size and smile are all symbolic - signify auspiciousness. 9. Today, some of these lions are placed to adorn both sides of a main door of some homes or offices or restaurants or business. A few are used at some main entrances to ward of sha qi. Under this link,the Bank of India placed a pair of such stone figurines, please see link, below:- http://www.geomancy.net/events/CDL_FS_Talk/talk_1_slide_42.htm

The Temple of Heaven is literally known as Altar of Heaven. This is where the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties held their annaul ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. In this picture, did you notice that the roof tiles are Blue? In this case, Blue rof tiles are only reserved for the highest form i.e. Heaven. Even the roof where the Emperor lives can only use Yellow (Yellow emperor). No other buildings in that period is allowed to use Blue roofing tiles.

This is a series of photos from my last visit in Beijing, China. The photos will include visit to the Great Wall, Ming Tombs and other interesting historical sites in China. Over the next few months, I will be posting some interesting photos from my perspective... Colour of Roof Tiles:- Highest Rank : Blue = reserved only for Heavenly Temple. Not even the Emperor'spalace or abode can use this blue tile roofing. Yellow roof tiles = reserved only for Emperor's palace or abode. Other colours: Green = officials and other high ranking people Grey roof tiles = common people. The figurines found in this picture can be found at most ancient roofings all over the Forbidden city, temples and ancient buildings...

1. The ba gua template must follow the "First Heaven Sequence" arrangement:- http://www.geomancy.net/resources/art/art-pakua.htm 2. Why not. You may print out a First Heaven Sequence arrangement or draw one yourself. The actual ba guas usually will have a "charm" printed behind the ba gua mirror. 3. Please note that the Ba Gua symbols are meant more for "protection" from evil spirits. While a secondary mirror on the ba gua is used for other "things" like : a conCAVE mirror is usually to suck back missing corner wealth. While a conVEX mirror is to deflect poison arrow e.g. a street lamp aimed at a main door or a main door facing a T-junction.

Best that the actual home is completed with photos is a good choice. As currently, this one picture unfortunatelydoes not give enough depth of understanding.

Finally, Goggle has lauched street view maps for Singapore:- http://maps.google.com.sg/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/mapplet.html&mapclient=google&f=q&hl=en&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-apac-sg-sk-svn If the maps are detailed, it can be an additional useful tool in evaluating a home prior to visiting it: be it for a first glimpse of the premises.

Red stove used in the First Time open door procedure. Chinese consider Red as very auspicious colour.

Last week, I was seated at the 14th row of a Singapore Airlines - Business Class seat and I stared up at the overhead compartments. I counted Row 11, Row 12... and then Row 14. There is no Row 13! Numbers are like: one man's meat is another man's poison! To some 13 seems unlucky.. to others lucky. Even to some Chinese: 4 or 44 or 444 seems unlucky. For others... ok, neutral or even lucky.... Thus numbers are considered more personal to a person, this culture and even his experience with it. Perhaps, Singapore Airlines felt that for commercial reasons, some numbers are not good for business!: Majority of 13 Rows are frequently unoccupied? Even banks e.g. DBS Tower 1 has certain flows that are not office buildings.. e.g. maintenance levels ... when you are next at DBS Tower 1, Shenton Way, take a peek at the lift numbering...!

Don't be mislead by Geomancers that want to sell products to enrich themselves. This is their main motive. On the contrary, find out what is the root cause of the problem and fix it!

So does all these people in this air-plane!

This has to be a very popular well liked palm! In Singapore, it is grown in pots. And it has thick shinny, deep green coloured leaf. Many Singaporeans will never imagine that it belongs to the palm family. Waxy plants dislike direct sunlight. And it thrives especially with fertilzer. It's trunk is also thick and everything about the plant symbolises "well fed" and with it's thick waxy leaves looks both high class and to some prosperous looking. It is equally very easy to grow... Often, one will see auspicious ornaments attached to the stem or red ribbon tied to the plant... A top choice for placing outside the main entrance door of many Chinese homes. Actual name is: Zamioculcas zamiifolia. Synonym: Caladium zamlaefolium Originates from Zanzibar, Tanzania

1. The leaves of this vine (climber) has a fragrant smell. 2. It is common in some parts of South-East Asia especially by the Malays / Balinese to chew the leaves as some sort of an apertiser or rather a habit to chew it with other cordiments placed in the leave. People who regularly chewed this has a rather bad permanent stain on their teeth /mouth.... for those who yearn for white teeth.. this is a no no... 3. It's cousin is the wild betel-leaf. As the name suggests it can be cultivated or grown wild. A very hardy vine and can multiply very very fast. It's flower is cone-like white.. 4. The family name of this vine is : Piperaceae. And it originates from Bali and the West Indies...

Name of this plant: Heliconia psittacorum x H. spathocircinata `Golden Torch'. Family Name: Heliconiaceae Origin: Tropical America This family flowers are similar to these exept that they come in varied colours like: Dark Red, Fire FLahs, Goden Torch Adrian etc...

The brightly coloured flower of this species to some at a glance resembles a cooked (red crab claw) of sorts or even the beak of a pink stork. Family Name: Heliconiaceae Origin: Tropical America

These two couples find it very hard to make money out of charities in Singapore nowadays.. So, they are trying to emulate Bernie Madoff in trying to see whether they can con people longer years than Madoff!

Is this really true? Or are you kidding me??

More pictures of the Spider Lily flower...

This plant is quite common in Singapore, but always never placed directly at the frontage of the main entrance door. As each of the leave is pointed much like an Anglo Saxon knife blade. This plant comes from Zaire. It's family name is: Dracaenaceae. And it is commonly called: Variegated Snake Plant. This plant has a cousin, which is much harder to find in Singapore. The profile of it's leave are the same except that it's yellowish and greenish band of stripes is horizontal vs the vertical stripes found on the attached Snake plant. Worse still, this cousin is also called Snake plant but it has another tongue in cheek name: Mother-in-law Tongue. Another name is Bowsring.

Under symbolism in Feng Shui:- 1.1. Avoid painting ceilings blue colour; 1.2. Avoid blue coloured roof tiles for landed property roof; 1.3. Avoid windows or doors using blue tinted glass or paste blue coloured sun-x film...

Bills, bills, bills and more bills. Lawyer's demand letter; bankruptcy letter; lawsuits and more...