The Iron Tongue's Years: A Republican-Era Feng Shui Master's Unofficial History

The story takes place in Tianjin in the late Qing and early Republican era, a time of transition between old and new, and of collisions between East and West. As a vital northern trading port, Tianjin was home to traditional trades and people from every walk of life, as well as Western concessions, foreign trading houses, and modern schools. Feng shui masters, blind fortune-tellers, and diviners stood in stark contrast to scientists, journalists, and industrialists returning from overseas. In a society gripped by upheaval, historical events such as the Boxer Rebellion, the Xinhai Revolution, and the New Culture Movement unfolded one after another. Gang rivalries in the concessions, covert struggles over shipping at the docks, and feng shui battles amid commercial rivalries all formed a complex social backdrop. Zhou Tiezui grew up in this world. Starting out as a small-time con man who scraped by at his father's side, he gradually became the famed "Iron Abacus" of Beijing and Tianjin, witnessing traditional metaphysics rise and fall amid the tides of a changing era.