In China there are many ways of “calculating one’s fate,” or “suan ming,” most of which are based on traditions that can be traced back thousands of years. “Suan ming,” or fortune telling as it is better known in the West, can be used to predict a person’s future and to calculate auspicious days for weddings, funerals, opening a business, or harvesting the crops. Astrology is used to determine whether or not a person will be lucky in life, whether they would make a suitable partner, grow up to be prosperous or die a young death. While astrology and fortune telling have taken a backseat to logic and science in modern China, the old traditions are still alive and well and you can find fortune tellers, diviners and astrologers practicing their arts throughout the country.

Understanding the different fortune tellers out there

The most common and popular form of fortune telling is called “Bazi.” Bazi is a calculation based on one’s birth year, month, day and hour. Bazi means “eight characters,” as each of the four components of the bazi is comprised of two characters (for example, the year 2011 is a xin mao 辛卯 year, these being the two characters represented for year). These two characters tell us that 2011 is not only a rabbit year, but also that the element represented is metal, and that it is a yin, feminine year, rather than a masculine yang year. All of these characteristics, along with similar calculations for the month, date, and hour of one’s birth, will come together to create an individual horoscope for each person. Bazi has its roots in Daoism, with different methods of calculating Bazi originating from different Daoist masters. Today, many people who calculate Bazi may not necessarily be Daoist masters or may not even be very well schooled in the principles behind Bazi. Many Chinese today view it with skepticism since professional astrologers (often viewed as being in connection with the “jianghu” or mafia) and fortune tellers, much like those in the West, are often guilty of conning people, usually the old and the uneducated, out of large sums of money.

Bazi is not the only method of Chinese fortune telling, although it may be one of the more complex ones. Other methods include Mian Xiang 面相, in which a face reader will feel the placement of features – the eyes, nose, mouth, etc – and get a reading of a person’s destiny based on the layout of his/her face. The Chinese weren’t the only ones who believed in face-reading – the practice actually dates back as far the Ancient Greeks. In Chinese face reading, different portions of the face represent a person’s luck at different stages in his life. Your face is also divided into a ying (feminine) side and a yang (masculine) side. Your nose, being in the center, is an important point, and represents your future wealth. The ears are also considered an important indicator of your future, with long large ears being favorable over small ears. Small ears are considered extremely unlucky!

Another form of fortune telling that most people living in China, even expats, have probably seen in practice at some point or another is called “qiu qian 求签” The “qian” are long flat bamboo sticks which are kept in a bamboo cylinder, called the “qian tong” 签筒. Each stick is painted with a different number and there are 100 sticks kept in the cylinder. A person who is doing qiu qian should first perform rites to whatever deity he is asking for help from, and then think silently about a specific question that he wants an answer to while shaking the cylinder. When a stick falls out of the cylinder, that stick’s number represents an answer to the question. A person is needed to interpret the answer, and this can be done by guardians of the temple, but often qiu qian is performed by laymen and swindlers on the street, people who are not actually schooled in the art. The interpretations can vary depending on who is giving the reading so it is not always reliable, and fortune seekers will consult many different interpreters before settling on an answer. The practice has its origins in Daoism and is best performed in a temple (rather than on the roadside).

In the old days, China was rich in superstitious tradition, but after the revolution the Communist party did a lot to eliminate these old practices, which were considered harmful to society. As in the west, fortune tellers, psychics, and other pseudosciences are often used to prey on the weak and disadvantaged. Usually the people who consult fortune tellers do so out of desperation, and this desperation can be used to take advantage of these people who cannot actually afford to spend their money on non-concrete solutions to their problems. The elderly, the sick and the disadvantaged, both in the West and in China, are at particular risk of falling victim to fortune telling scams, and should therefore not be encouraged to visit fortune tellers or participate in such rituals. While Bazi, Mianxiang and even Qiu Qian can be used for entertainment, it should be kept in mind that Chinese fortune tellers are just as likely to be crooked as their Western counterparts.
 

Related links
The Art of Getting Lucky: Superstition in China
The Chinese Name Game
The Sound and the Fury: What NOT to Give your Chinese Friends

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Keywords: Fortune telling in China Bazi and fortune in China suan ming and fortune telling