The self-examination book written by the former principal of Pingshan Central Primary School in Gaozhou City, Lu Ziqu, and teacher Li You, among others. Due to historical reasons, the Li Clan Ancestral Hall was built inside one of the school's classrooms.
After two student fatalities occurred successively, the school believed that the "ghosts" in the ancestral hall on the same premises were causing trouble. To ensure safety, the former principal first invited a Feng Shui master to perform rituals to "drive away the ghosts." When this was obstructed, the subsequent principal followed up by inviting another Feng Shui master for inspection, who concluded that the orientation of the school gate was unfavorable and recommended modifying the gate's direction to change the fortune.
Such absurd incidents happened at a primary school in Gaozhou, Maoming. The day before yesterday, when interviewed by Southern Metropolis Daily, the principal and teachers of the school claimed that inviting the Feng Shui masters twice was for the good of the students.
**Student Incidents Blamed on Ghosts**
In March 2009, a sixth-grade student from Pingshan Central Primary School in Gaozhou was hit and killed by a vehicle belonging to the local finance bureau; the finance bureau compensated with 320,000 yuan to settle the matter. In July 2010, another sixth-grade student from the same school killed a classmate over an MP5 player near a mountain road. To quell the incident, the school compensated the victim’s family with 200,000 yuan.
Within two years, two major student fatality cases occurred at the same school, leaving the principal and some teachers feeling uneasy. They attributed the repeated accidents to an ancestral hall within the school, believing it was the Li ancestors enshrined in the hall causing trouble.
"There have been so many incidents, we rural people all feel something is wrong," said Lu Ziqu, who was the principal of the central primary school at the time. After two non-natural death accidents involving students occurred at the school, the surrounding villagers began talking, believing it was influenced by the Li clan ancestral hall inside the school. They suggested he find someone "knowledgeable" to check out the school.
"Ghosts are something no one has ever seen, whether they exist or not, we don't know, but everyone was anxious," said teacher Li You, who specifically handled the matter. For the sake of the students, under Principal Lu Ziqu's instruction, he invited a well-known Feng Shui master from Dapo Town in Gaozhou, Liang Shiming.
**Feng Shui Master Invited to Perform Rituals**
At the age of 70, Liang Shiming quickly identified the problem as being related to the Li clan ancestral hall upon entering the central primary school.
The ancestral hall was located in a classroom on the first floor of the school building. According to President Li Qingrui of the Li Clan Association, during the Jiaqing period of the Ming Dynasty, the Ping Mountain Li clan built their ancestral hall at the current location of the school. In the 1960s, due to the lack of classrooms, the Ping Mountain Primary School borrowed the Li clan ancestral hall.
Later, most of the ancestral hall was demolished, retaining only two rooms, which housed dozens of ancestral tablets. Every spring and autumn, descendants of the Li clan would come here to worship their ancestors.
In 2008, when the Ping Mountain Primary School expanded its teaching building, the last two remaining rooms disappeared. The school reached an agreement with the Li clan to use one of the classrooms as an ancestral hall for the Li clan to pay respects to their ancestors.
Thus, the situation arose where the school coexisted with the Li clan ancestral hall.
After two student fatalities occurred at the school, the invited Feng Shui master, Liang Shiming, believed that the deaths were related to the Li ancestors enshrined in the ancestral hall and began performing rituals to "drive away the ghosts." In a later self-examination document written by Li You, it was described: "I called the Feng Shui master Liang Shiming from Liangdong Village (Note: It should be 'tang' meaning killing chickens) to kill chickens and burn paper... He also posted three talismans in the hall."
**Li Clan's Anger and Principal's Repentance Letter**
One day in August 2010, a villager of the Li clan came to the ancestral hall to burn incense and worship the ancestors, noticing three "prohibition talismans" posted on the incense burner altar. He immediately confronted Lu Ziqu. "He said there was nothing, telling me to tear them off myself," the villager angrily left and informed other villagers, and the news gradually spread.
The Li clan is a large family in Pingshan Town, with more than 20,000 people in the town, and six or seven hundred thousand more living elsewhere. The clan discussed this matter multiple times, and were very angry. "Both fatal incidents occurred outside the school; the school's poor education management has nothing to do with our ancestors," said Li Qingrui. Among the various feudal superstitious practices in western Guangdong, "placing prohibitions" is one of the strictest means to punish ghosts, usually used against harmful "evil spirits" and "ferocious ghosts," aiming to make them lose their souls forever, never to be reborn.
"Prohibiting" someone's ancestors is akin to digging up someone's grave or killing their parents, extremely taboo and hated by the locals.
On March 15 of this year, representatives of the Li clan confronted Lu Ziqu, demanding an explanation. Facing the questioning from the Li clan, Lu Ziqu eventually admitted that inviting the Feng Shui master to perform rituals at the school was inappropriate, apologized to the Li clan, and wrote a repentance letter, "willing to compensate five ten-thousand yuan" to the Li clan as "funds for the Li clan martyrs' golden body."
**New Principal Again Invites Feng Shui Master**
In January 2011, Lu Ziqu was promoted to the town's education office, and Mo Huafeng succeeded him as the principal of Pingshan Central Primary School. What the Li clan did not expect was that soon after Mo Huafeng took office, the school again invited Feng Shui masters, once again disturbing their ancestors.
Elderly Li Yunxin of the Li clan said that after Lu Ziqu left, the school's discipline and atmosphere did not improve significantly. The new principal, Mo Huafeng, said that Liang Shiming lacked sufficient knowledge and power, so he specially invited two Feng Shui masters from outside to enter the campus.
"They set up a compass and arranged the eight trigrams in the school, concluding that having an ancestral hall inside the school created heavy Yin energy, with many ghosts; the school was also facing a 'Yin cemetery,' and the two big trees at the entrance were ominous stars; the school decided to cut down the trees and rebuild the gate to 'change the luck.'"
Li Qingrui said that after the Feng Shui master inspected, Mo Huafeng quickly found him, saying the school wanted to build a new wall and gatehouse, seeking his opinion. "I said building a gatehouse is fine, but the direction of the gatehouse should face directly toward the road in front of the door." Li Qingrui insisted that the gate should align with the position of the ancestral hall, i.e., directly facing the village road in front of the school, to preserve the feng shui of the ancestral hall from being lost.
Mo Huafeng insisted that the gate should slightly open towards the right side. "He said it was for student safety, the gate shouldn't directly face the main road, but actually followed the Feng Shui master's advice, thinking the current direction is 'Yin cemetery facing,' which is disadvantageous to the school and himself," said Li Qingrui. Both sides held different opinions and parted ways unhappily.
On March 23, while passing by the gate of the central primary school on business, Li Qingrui discovered that all five big trees inside the school had been cut down, and the school gate and walls had been demolished, currently under construction. Li Qingrui was greatly alarmed, quickly gathered some members of the Li clan to stop the construction, which then ceased.
The morning of the previous day, Southern Metropolis Daily reporters saw at the school that the school's gate and walls had still not been rebuilt, using some bamboo to create a simple fence.
The school has more than 600 elementary school students.
**School Statement**
"The person invited is not a Feng Shui master"
Principal Mo Huafeng initially firmly stated in the interview that cutting down trees and building a gatehouse had nothing to do with Feng Shui. He said the central primary school applied for funding from higher-ups, wanting to take the opportunity to improve the school environment. Rebuilding the gatehouse was for student safety, so students wouldn’t step directly onto the main road when exiting the school gate; cutting down the trees was to build the school's track, as several trees blocked the necessary path for the track.
Not long after, Mo Huafeng said that indeed, a "person" was invited to determine the orientation of the school gate; however, it was done at the request of the Li clan. Mo insisted that cutting down the trees had nothing to do with Feng Shui.
The superior leader of the central primary school, Principal Wei Yue of the town's central school, said that in 2009 and 2010, two consecutive years saw unintentional student deaths at the Pingshan Central Primary School, causing much discussion among the local villagers. Some villagers even suggested he sacrifice a dog to drag things along, etc., which he did not agree with. Later, the school invited “people” twice, which he was unaware of; however, the purpose was also for the good of the students.
Wei Yue firmly stated that this "person" was not the so-called Feng Shui master; even if it was a Feng Shui master, such behavior was merely a personal act of an individual teacher at the school, absolutely not an organized act by the school administration.
**Feng Shui Master**
"Feng Shui Inspection, Principal Paid 100 Yuan"
Did the school cut down the trees first or invite the Feng Shui master first? Yesterday, Southern Metropolis Daily found one of the "people" invited to "give some advice" – He Zhentao.
According to the townsfolk of Pingshan, He Zhentao is an active "Feng Shui expert" in the Gaozhou area, and many people consult him for Feng Shui advice when getting married or building homes, making him quite famous locally.
He Zhentao said that Principal Mo Huafeng of the Pingshan Central Primary School found him, asking him to go to the school to inspect, mentioning that there had been a fatality at the school last year and wanted his advice on which direction the newly constructed school gate should face.
"I took out my compass and calculated at the gate, then told him the gate should face the directions of Wei Chou, which is good for both Yin and Yang, allowing the flow of three-five-nine fortunes," He Zhentao explained. Yin refers to the ancestral hall inside the school, and Yang refers to the teachers and students inside the school. The current gate faces Ding Gui, which is not conducive to Feng Shui.
He Zhentao noticed several big trees inside the school during the inspection and told Mo Huafeng, "These big trees have grown branches, blocking the Feng Shui at the gate."
He Zhentao indicated that the day he checked the Feng Shui happened to be during the school holidays, with no students around, but many teachers watching. After the inspection, "the principal gave me 100 yuan" as a reward for checking the Feng Shui.
**Dialogue**
"For the protection of students, the intention was good"
The day before yesterday, during the interview, Southern Metropolis Daily had an "interesting" conversation with Principal Wei Yue of the Pingshan Central School. Wei Yue consistently believed that the school did not engage in feudal superstition, and the two invitations were to adapt to local customs.
Southern Metropolis Daily: Schools are places advocating science and civilization, how could Feng Shui masters be invited to check the Feng Shui?
Wei Yue: Such things are very common in rural areas. Some teachers are influenced by local villagers and do a bit of what rural people do, adapting to local customs.
After two student accidents occurred consecutively at the school, some individual teachers invited "people" to check, with good intentions, all for the protection of students.
Southern Metropolis Daily: Do you approve of such behavior?
Wei Yue: If it's feudal superstition, I definitely disapprove.
Southern Metropolis Daily: Do you think the two actions are feudal superstition? Will it set a bad example for students?
Wei Yue: I don't think so; it's just a local custom; there were no students present during both occasions.
Southern Metropolis Daily: Custom? Isn't the school a place for educating people?
Wei Yue: All for the good of students, all for protecting students.
Written/Photographed by Southern Metropolis Daily reporter Zhou Songbai, intern Lu Jia