Gods of Wealth, Please Report!

Here at the start of the 21st century, the Year of the Snake is upon us. Have you found your path to prosperity? Have you identified the mascots of money-making?

If you ask the shopkeepers in the main streets or back alleys, they will tell you that the favorite figure of the moment is the Maneki Neko, or Japanese "beckoning cat," whose Chinese name is literally "wealth-attracting cat" ((c)?∞]o?).

The Maneki Neko has ridden a wave of fashion for things Japanese to superstardom in Taiwan, and its sales haven't suffered a whit with the slumping economy. Not only are Japanese foodstuff shops and Japanese product counters at department stores quickly selling out of their regular shipments of these feline fortune finders, Maneki Nekos were even on sale in the run-up to New Year's at the roadside stalls selling traditional Chinese holiday paraphernalia, such as lanterns and spring couplets on red paper. They smiled flirtatiously at shoppers from between the potbellied Buddhas and the mock gold ingots.

Amid the crowds and the hubbub at the Sogo in Taipei, Taiwan's top-grossing department store, it's clear that these kitties bring more than just good financial fortune. Check out this rack full of copycat charms that have come from Japan on Maneki Neko's tail. Take, for instance, this litter of Fengshui Kitties, lined up here with each holding a different colored pearl: red, purple, blue, white or yellow. The Fengshui Kitty with the yellow pearl, which specializes in attracting money, is now selling even better than Maneki Neko!

Foreign cats, local toads

But there is no need to restrict our survey to foreign felines. Chinese are, as a rule, fengshui experts who will consider the auspiciousness of virtually anything. For that matter, the Chinese display a willingness to believe in the auspiciousness of just about anything! Hence, they have never lacked their own stately or amusing charms to pull in wealth and keep it within a household.

The Chinese folk charms of financial good fortune have a great variety of origins, an abundance that is due in large part to the Chinese people's virtuosity at making things up as they go along. For starters, there is the God of Wealth on the peachwood charms that people bring out for the New Year. Round-faced and smiling, he wears a mandarin's hat and robes, and his very presence seems to exude affluence and good times. Amiable and ubiquitous local land gods can also be seen grasping silver or gold ingots, doing their bit to bring wealth to the neighborhood. By some twist of fate even the Daoist deity Guan Gong, who never made much money during his time as a mortal, has come to be regarded as a god of wealth.

Love of money has been a constant across the ages, observable in such time-honored Chinese traditions as burning incense to pray to gods of wealth. Many Chinese wealth charms are traditional objects that have long been ascribed these powers. The three-legged toad, whose origins lie in a classic folktale, is an old favorite that has never fallen from popular favor.

According to legend, a Daoist master named Liu Hai and a three-legged golden toad scattered gold coins across the land. If one of these fell into your home, your family would enjoy prosperity for thousands of years. The earliest known depiction of this toad is the "toad in the moon" found in a Han dynasty silk painting that was unearthed in the Mawangdui Tombs. Because of the legend of Liu Hai teasing the golden toad, toads became auspicious symbols revered throughout China ever since the Eastern Han dynasty (AD 25-220). According to legend, Liu Hai was the student of a miserly Daoist master. This master turned out to be corrupt and was put into a well for punishment, where he became a three-legged toad. Liu Hai's attempts to save his master repeatedly failed. Finally, Liu Hai came up with the idea of tying a silk thread to a traditional Chinese coin, which he threw into the well. When his teacher saw the coin, he couldn't help but bite. From that moment, the three-legged toad became a symbol of wealth, and the image of Liu Hai on the back of the toad with a large gold ingot in his outstretched arms became a favorite subject for folk art.

In the 1980s the three-legged toad managed to separate from Liu Hai. It came to be marketed as an auspicious figure in its own right. The higher the stock market soared, the more plastic three-legged toads were pulled from their manufacturing molds. You could also buy brass toads that held coins in their mouths. These served as money charms for shops, whose owners would turn them facing outward in the morning so as to attract wealth inside. Then, when the shopkeepers closed their stores at dusk, they'd turn the toads around, so that none of the good fortune would slip away overnight.

Today you can still see three-legged toads at jade markets and night markets. It's just that with the fashion for things Japanese, Maneki Nekos prevail, and figures of three-legged toads are not nearly as prevalent as they once were. But the potbellied, grinning figure of Maitreya Buddha is so pleasing that his popularity even today is no less than Maneki Neko's. You can often find the two of them next to each other in stores and markets. Moreover, the potbellied Buddha by himself is still a popular motif for china, as well as for jade and wood carvings.

Maitreya Buddha has also been transformed into the figure of a monk carrying a burlap sack. Whatever you give to this old monk, he puts in the sack behind him. But as this smiling old man takes with one hand, he gives with the other. Look carefully at the plump Buddhas found in stores and homes. Notice the full sack of stuff that is often found behind them. What treasures lie within? That we leave to the beholder's imagination.

Money trees and golden eggs

Then there are the assorted golden animals or other objects that are variations on the theme of the golden hen, the Chinese equivalent of the goose that lays the golden egg. The name for the spotted leopard in Chinese is jinqian bao, or "money leopard"-so named because its spots look like coins. This name has made the spotted leopard a common motif for costume jewelry.

Sometimes auspicious objects are chosen for a play on words. For instance, because the first character in the Chinese compound for "coffin" (guan: ¥√) is a homonym for a character that means "high official" ((c)x), and the second character (cai: s?) is a homonym for a character that means "wealth" or "money" (∞]), coffins became popular symbols of good fortune a few years back. Foot-long red coffins would sit on counters in big stores, and people would carry around mini-coffin key chains. Normally superstitious people were willing to break the strong taboo associated with coffins because of the double allusion to the phrase "sheng guan fa cai" (§...(c)xμo∞]), which means, "Attain high office and make a fortune."

The owners of the various shops that sell wealth charms all agree that when sales of other lines flag, business for these charms only increases. They are true "money trees."

With the economic downturn, Wang Nien-feng, a florist who often works for the television and entertainment industries, has had plenty to sigh about. He reveals that showbusiness promotion budgets have been cut in half. As a consequence, his flower-arranging business has likewise shriveled. But just a few steps down the street is another flower shop whose salesclerk says that business isn't bad at all. Looking around, you notice that there is a collection of flashily ornamented "gold ingot trees" at the front of the shop. These are placed in pots shaped liked gold ingots. Mock gold ingots also hang like fruit from the branches, which are festooned with red ribbon bows. At the other end of the store is a line of long-branched gold money trees. Thick round leaves grow from the branches in groups of four, giving each branch the appearance of being a string of coins. Although these imported plants are in high demand, none of the salesclerks at any of the stores seem to have any idea what the proper name for them is. In any case, most buyers don't ask. As long as the trees are said to attract money, they are sure to fly out of the store and into people's homes.

"These types of money trees are the favorite of banks," affirms the owner of the "Tip Top" flower store on Pateh Road. But banks are far from the only purchasers of them. When the economy is weak, shops frequently close, undergo renovations and open up again with new proprietors. These inexpensive and auspicious money charm trees make excellent gifts for friends opening new stores!

For the florists who are smart enough to sell these arrangements made with ivy, shaving-brush trees and "gold ingot trees," it is only a slight exaggeration to say that their business improves the worse the economy gets!

To bank on fish tanks

But the truth is that objects said to attract money sell just as well in good times as bad, for when the economy is strong, people are willing to spend large sums to ensure that they can hold onto their wealth. For instance, the stock market last peaked amid a craze for fengshui fish tanks and crystals.

Since water is the Chinese element that indicates wealth, many business people like to keep fish tanks. Huang Chiung-yu, who has been selling fish and aquariums for more than a decade, points out that for a few years entrepreneurs were installing NT$200,000-300,000 fish tanks in their homes or offices. While the falling stock market has meant that aquarium sellers have had to lower their prices, they have found no shortage of customers willing to take advantage of these bargains. Since fish tanks help you change your fate when something bad is expected, and otherwise help to attract money, they are perennial hot sellers.

A Miss Lai works for a broadband Internet access provider and is responsible for taking care of two large office fish tanks. Her company has been hit by the slumping economy and is striving to cut down on expenses. Nevertheless, there is no consideration being given to reducing the NT$5,000-6,000 spent each month on cleaning the tanks, let alone any thought of cutting back on the money spent on fish food or the occasional replacement fish.

The Core Pacific eCommerce Co., which just this year got involved in the fish and aquarium business, correctly predicted that the economic downturn would mean an increase in those needing fish tanks to soothe their financial psyches. With an eye on this group, as well as on those consumers replacing old money charms with new ones or those buying auspicious objects for the New Year, Core Pacific devised a marketing plan to sell the seven major money-charmed fish.

The company takes orders over the Internet, offers the services of experts who make house calls, and delivers. Customers hence save time and energy. Core's best-selling fish include carp, goldfish, and "blood parrotfish," which are red and round like balls.

The market for crystals has also managed to retain its luster. Crystals are said to alter force fields and thereby improve one's physique, regulate one's qi, and bolster one's finances. For going on ten years now, they've been hot sellers in Taiwan. Crystal markets have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and shops where a premium is put on color coordination, such as florists or clothing stores, often use unfinished whole crystals or amethysts to add panache to their decor.

Huang Hao-chuan, an importer, exporter and processor of gems, says that crystals in Taiwan used to come exclusively from Brazil and Russia, but recently mainland China and Madagascar have emerged as additional sources of supply. The growth in supply suggests that crystals' star hasn't fallen yet. Huang explains that the price of crystals isn't what it once was. Yet sales quantities are up, thereby offsetting the falling profit margins.

May you prosper!

While the hot sales of money charms are no doubt partly attributable to the enterprising efforts of dealers and retailers, the slumping economy and growing number of fortunetellers have also played a part in the boom. Those who habitually get their fortunes told are naturally given to installing a fish tank here at one moment and positioning a crystal over there the next. But recently many people who are not ordinarily superstitious have sought the services of fortunetellers when they've seen the value of their stocks decline. They might be told something along these lines: "Get a dragon or a God of Wealth carved in a topaz and the deity Taishang Laojun carved in an amethyst, and hang them over your chest from a string of Chinese knots. Otherwise, you can hang a yucai painting at home, and perform good deeds on the third, sixth and eighth day of every lunar month. Only by so doing will you meet with good fortune!"

If you want to avoid going to all this trouble, you might instead consult the traditional Chinese farmers' almanac, which suggests that during bad times people can turn their fortunes by repositioning their water coolers or hot water dispensers. Of course, it's up the individual to decide whether to believe in any of this.

May you meet with good fortune and prosperity in the New Year!

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"We're in the money." This trio of mixed colored cats will work hard to attract wealth for their owner.

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"Buy me," this mustachioed and smiling deity of wealth seems to be saying. "If you take me home, I guarantee that I'll make you a fortune!"

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Never mind that I'm outrageously attired! For many a store, I'm the proverbial money tree.

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The three-legged toad biting a coin is a famous wealth charm. But how many know that his origin is traced to the ancient folk tale "Liu Hai Teases the Golden Toad"?

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"I am called the peacock fish!" Those who keep me know that I attract wealth, but they often forget my name.

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Beautiful and transparent crystals were once the most expensive and elegant of wealth charms in Taiwan.

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Here a pot-bellied Buddha is matched with a water ball. This auspicious pair is bound to make you a fortune-whether you want the money or not!