Outside many of the city’s temples, you will find old men sitting on low stalls, clutching books full of multi-coloured tables of Mandarin characters. If you’ve ever wondered what they were doing, then a course in
bazi could be for you. Taught at the China Culture Center by the diligent Alvin Ang (who dresses more like a businessman than a mystic), this form of fortune-telling takes the hour, day, month and year of your birth to plot out your likely path at any given moment in the future.
Once you’ve gained an understanding of how it works, you can, it’s claimed, determine destiny in matters such as love, wealth and health – for you, or anyone whose birth date you know. Ang, for example, used his knowledge of the stars to discover that Tiger Woods had a ‘mistress problem’ long before it became public knowledge.
Be warned, however, this is not for the mathematically challenged. Calculating your destiny with bazi means just that: lots of complex calculations involving the interactions of forces such as ‘the four pillars’, ‘the five elements’ and ‘the heaven stem’.
Dating back to the Song Dynasty, this ‘scientific’ form of soothsaying is being made easier these days thanks to the publishing of books with pre-worked out tables (as beloved by pensioners outside temples) and even 21st-century updated versions of these on apps and websites. But you’ll still need a basic understanding of bazi in order to get the most from these devices.
Halfway through the course – before I’ve advanced enough to work it out for myself – I persuade Ang to give me a sneak preview of my fate. First, he tells me that I have the ‘movement star’ in my chart and will spend a lot of time away from the place I was born. Before the cynic in me can say ‘No s**t, Sherlock – I’m a foreigner in Beijing’, he correctly tells me that I began a new relationship at the start of this year. Next, he foretells that I will get married some time in 2014. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see about that one. Gabrielle Jaffe
A course of eight two-hour sessions costs 1,500RMB. 10am-noon, Mon and Wed. Next course starts February 6.
Getting one’s cards read is a little like going to the dentist. There’s the anxious wait until your name is called; the hushed curtained-off section where the deed is done; and the inevitable pain. All that’s missing is the mouth swill. I have my destiny read at the aptly named Tarot Café, near Houhai.
Once I ask a question, shuffle the pack and pick out my cards, Wu Yelan, the café’s co-owner and English-speaking clairvoyant, tells me my wheel of fortune is stuck. I have no cups (symbols of love) and, to top it all, I drew a card showing a heart speared by five swords. All in all, the outlook for my love life over the next two years looks pretty bleak. Wu is sympathetic but denies me a second shuffle.
The origins of this form of fortune-telling, known as ‘cartomancy’, are (rather aptly) shrouded in mystery. But most experts agree that the cards themselves date back to medieval Europe, and that they only became popular as a means of divination in the 18th century.
Wu, 30, who hails from Shanxi province, started teaching herself to read tarot cards about a decade ago, using online materials and buying books from overseas. She quit her government job just over three years ago to go full-time at the café.
The interior smells something like an old British pub – mainly because the husband and wife team (she reads the cards, he makes the coffee) smoke like chimneys – and looks like a Victorian dining room. Readings are in English or Chinese and take place behind a dark plum-coloured gauze curtain. Dim lighting, a deck of battered black-backed cards and the soothing lilt of Wu’s voice create just the right occult vibe. Each question costs 100RMB, while a cappuccino or latte made to the flavour of your star sign costs 30RMB a glass. I have a hot cup of Scorpio.
Wu explains that reading the cards is more like a therapy session, where she can help you work out where you’re going wrong. ‘You can change your future; it’s not just about destiny – it’s about the choices we make.’ Although that sounds a bit like a cop out, after my disastrous cards, I can only hope she’s right. Dinah Gardner
Book at least one day in advance.
Beijing’s psychic HQ is without a doubt Guozijian Jie, the pleasant, tree-lined street that branches off Yonghegong Dajie and leads to the Confucius Temple. Upon entering the street at its eastern end, you are confronted by poster upon poster of wise-looking men offering all kinds of spiritual services, from
feng shui to naming advice, and, of course, fortune-telling.
Techniques differ from parlour to parlour, but most offer hand and face reading. prices vary, too, and seem to be dependent on how elaborate the reader’s costume is or the length of his facial hair, but you can expect to have a decent hand or face reading for around 330RMB, or a combination of the two for about 660RMB. The only downside is that, unless your Mandarin is really good, you will need someone to translate for you.
Convinced of his sagacity by the excellence of his beard, I choose to have a reading with Chen Yi at liang Ming Xuan (shop No 3). Reaching for my right hand, in a softly-spoken voice he tells me what each of my fingers represent: my thumb signifies my relationship with my parents; my index finger, my siblings and friends; my middle finger, myself; and my little finger, my children. He doesn’t mince his words as he explains: ‘Your fingers are spread far apart; that means that you care a lot for your relations but they don’t care as much for you.’
As we continue, there are more shocks to come. The small mole next to my nose means that I will encounter a bad experience or illness when I’m in my late forties. The ‘good news’ is that my face shape suggests that I will bring good fortune to my husbands – all four of them, if I am to believe the signs etched into the forked marriage line on my hand.
At the end of the session, Chen explains that this form of fortune-telling can’t help you predict the exact dates of events, but can only give you a general idea of your future and your inherent personality traits. However, he maintains that because your face and hands change over time, reflecting developments in your life, it’s more accurate than readings that are simply based on your birth date. let’s hope my lines are set to change! Catherine Zheng
Liang Ming Xuan
3 Guozijian Jie, Dongcheng district (136 9135 8182). Open 9am-5pm daily. 亮名轩, 东城区国子监3号