Tycoons spend billions of dong on altars, tombs Vietnamese businessmen always need the support of the Gods when doing business. Therefore, they are willing to spend billions of dong just to set up altars at home, or build family tombs.   An altar. The topic of discussions at businessmen’s meetings nowadays is not about girls, business performance and the flesh-pot, but about altars and tombs. It takes them several months to think about what worshiping subjects to buy for the home altars. It also takes them several months to choose the magicians with deep knowledge about feng shui to help them set up altars in a right way. Nguyen Van Thong, 45, is a well-known businessman in Nam Dinh province. He finished the 6th grade only, but he can earn a lot of money from the two enterprises he owns. Thong experienced a childhood with full of hardship, earning his living by vending worshipping objects. Thong has been well known in the locality not only for the two businesses, but also for the big house for worshipping. The house was built in an ancient style, made of wood, with many columns. The house and the altar have strong impressions on visitors not only with the masterstroke decoration and worshipping items, but also with the columns made of ironwood. The house alone cost VND3 billion, the sum of money big enough for a small business to start up. In 2007, the people in Soc Trang province were once stirred up by the construction of a big worshipping palace on an area of 7,000 square meters, worth VND500 million. They may get shocked if hearing that there is another more valuable worshipping house, worth VND3 billion. Chu Van Dinh in Vinh Phuc province, a big guy in the real estate sector, has been well known as the owner of the only big house with sophisticated architecture style in the locality. The house, covering an area of 10,000 square meters have been surrounded by a rock wall which looks like kings’ palaces. The worshipping place is in the middle part of the house, where there are many valuable display items made of copper. The couple of copper made cranes alone cost VND200 million, while the incense burner VND20 million. The pair of wood panels here is plated in gold. A friend of Dinh said the altar and the display items alone cost VND2 billion. Do Dang Ba, the owner of a wooden furniture workshop in Phu Xuyen district in Hanoi, said most of the wooden products are inlaid with gold, therefore, they are very expensive. Meanwhile, antiques are even more valuable. Ba said an antique dealer promised to pay VND1 billion for a horizontal lacquered board engraved with Chinese characters, belonging to the Nguyen family in Hung Yen province. However, the owner refused to sell the antique, which is handed down from generation to generation. Altars nowadays not only can be seen at individuals’ homes, or family worshipping houses, but also at offices as well. Duong Duc Minh, Director of a mechanical engineering company in Hai Duong province, said he has decided to build a room for worshipping. “The construction has finished, costing VND100 million. I still need the advices from my brothers before deciding what to buy for worshipping objects. “All people, no matter who they are, businessmen or scholars, need the support from the Gods to make prosperity in their works,” he said. VietNamNet Bridge, D. Anh