- A media company will pay nearly $29,000 after hosting an article suggesting three buildings in Beijing would bring misfortune to their residents, according to the New York Times.
- The post stated that the buildings violated feng shui and resembled a pig's kidneys.
- Feng shui, translated as "wind-water", is an ancient Chinese tradition of thought and belief that aims to maximize the energies of a place for wellbeing, health, and luck.
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A media company will pay nearly $29,000 after hosting an article suggesting three buildings in Beijing would bring misfortune to their residents as they violated feng shui, according to the New York Times.
The author claimed the three buildings developed by Wangjing Search Company resembled a pig's kidneys and were "a bad feng shui layout", according to a blog post published in November on a website operated by Zhuhai Shen stick Network Technology.
The post took particular aim at Wangjing Search Company's CEO Pan Shiyi and used edited pictures of him in the post.
It also claimed that businesses in the Wangjing Soho buildings were suffering due to the negative energy and bad winds at the building.
"Many internet companies are not doing well in this bleak operation," it said.
Feng shui, translated as "wind-water", is a tradition of thought and belief with roots in ancient China that aims to maximize the energies of a place for wellbeing, health, and luck.
The buildings, designed by famed Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, are said to represent "three interweaving mountains that fuse building and landscape" and which "responds to the flows of the city".
Don’t know about its feng shui but I was there last night and the wind howls through the canyon in between those mega looking towers... oh and the bars and restaurants there close too early. ;-) #Chinahttps://t.co/8dhS2CJ88D
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) April 14, 2019
In the complaint lodged against Zhuhai Shen stick Network Technology, the developer argued the post had a harmful impact on its business and reputation. "We cannot accept the use of feudal superstition to slander this building," Pan Shiyi wrote on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform.
On Wednesday, April 10, Beijing's Chaoyang district court agreed and ruled the feng shui "superstition" was used to defame the real estate group.
The judgment said the article had used "insulting vocabulary" about Wangjing Search Company's buildings and "carried out ‘one-sided analysis and arbitrary conclusions'," which led readers to view the company's reputation negatively.
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"The use of Pan Shiyi's photos without consent also violated Pan Shiyi's portrait rights," it added. "It is enough to conclude that the article led to the decline of Wangjing Search Company's social evaluation."
The Wangjing Soho project generates more than $66 million in rent each year, according to court documents.
Court documents attributed statements to Ouyang Hua, the official on the case, who said "the media should cultivate an active and healthy, up-to-good network culture, and nourish people with socialist core values and outstanding human civilization. Nourish the society and create a clean … cyberspace."