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To: Frank_Ching who wrote (6727)	2/1/2000 2:49:00 AM
From: Sir Auric Goldfinger	Respond to of 10354

ENTER THE DRAGON - CHINESE SOOTHSAYERS SAY WHAT'S IN 1/31/0 19:21 (New York) By Hazel Parry, dpa Hong Kong (dpa) - Hillary Clinton will win the New York senate race by a landslide while her daughter Chelsea dates a Leonardo Di Caprio look-a-like. What will Bill say about this? Not much, or so say Feng Shui experts who are predicting the U.S. president will spend the coming Chinese Year of the Dragon very much on the sidelines. His daughter Chelsea, on the other hand, will, like mum, be in the spotlight as her new romance has the paparazzi in a spin and earns People Magazine an exclusive. And that's not all the Year of the Dragon has in store for famous personalities. Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates looks set for a bumpy ride on the Dragon's tail with more lawsuits and a ``pie in the face' security breach heading his way. While web storekeeper Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief of Amazon.com and Time magazine's Man of the Year, will find riding the dragon incredibly good for his business. On the personal front, long-term relationships may sour and a distant relative could turn up to grab a share of his fortune. For at least 4,000 years, the Chinese have directed their lives according to the harmonious relationship between earth's elements, believing that successes and failures owe more to the forces of nature known as Feng Shui than anything else. If the force is with you, then you'll be lucky in love, health and wealth. Even the most contemporary of Chinese today consult Feng Shui masters for guidance on important decisions in life, whether on investment, how to arrange their household furniture, travelling abroad or fixing a date for a wedding. That also goes for financial house Credit Lyonnaise Securities Asia (CLSA) which got together with the Feng Shui masters of Hong Kong to come up with these predictions. And if the idea of a serious finance company dabbling in this kind of thing sounds strange, bear this in mind. For the last nine years CLSA has produced a Feng Shui index - a sort of investors guide of how Hong Kong's stock market will fare in the coming Chinese year based on the influences of the earth's forces. And it claims to have had success last year when its predictions were ``nigh on perfect'. The Year of the Dragon starts next weekend on February 5 and, says CLSA's own Feng Shui sorcerer Dio Wong, promises to be very different from the previous two years (The Rabbit and The Tiger) due to a shift in controlling forces from fire and wood to gold and water. ``These elements will dominate the investment air for at least four years, bringing a flood of liquidity to the economy,' says Wong. In Hong Kong, this means property prices will bounce back, increasing 10 per cent, and retail sales will pick up as more tourists head to the Far East. On the downside, inflation will make a comeback. China too will benefit from the golden touch as it enters the World Trade Organization, although not as smoothly as it hoped due to conditions laid down by the European Union. Premier Zhu Rongji will embark on new economic reforms with very little opposition but expectations about China opening its industries to foreign investors will prove hollow. In neighbouring Taiwan, political and money scandals will lead to riots, two earthquakes will rock suburban Taipei and Lien Chan will win the presidential election - although few voters will bother to go to the polls. The forces of Feng Shui will bring good fortune to Japan with stocks rising and fashion designers regaining their number-one spot on the catwalks of Southeast Asia. In Europe, the euro will finally start to strengthen against the dollar and unemployment will fall while consumer confidence rises. However, quarrels will break out with Russia when it is discovered the E.U. tried to influence its presidential election. ``This scandal breaks only after a tanker filled with cheap vodka runs aground in the Baltic,' says the prediction. However, don't take it all too seriously. Even sorcerer Dio Wong, CLSA's head of Hong Kong research, admits it is just a bit of light relief, based just as much on news analysis and gossip as sorcery and ancient wisdom. ``We started the Feng Shui index as a bit of fun. It's a light-hearted way of looking at what the next year may have in store,' he said. Which might come as reassurance to Amazon.com supremo Jeff Bezos and everyone who, like him, was born under the sign of the rabbit. This is because if they believe the soothsayers, they will have to spend the coming year doing the following things to avoid misfortune: Eat lamb chops and oranges, visit hot springs and avoid wearing hats.