Tuesday, August 3, 2010

On Palm Reading and Seeing into the Future

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in Beijing. One day, she went to a well-respected palm reader. He looked at her palm, thought for a while, and then told her in Chinese: "You're very close to your father, but you're going to marry someone who will take you far far away from him." A few years later, after this girl became a woman, she fell in love with a man who shortly after went to the US. After a couple more years of letters and expensive long-distance phone calls, they got married and the prophecy was fulfilled.

This is the story of my mother and father, and the mysteriousness of palm reading. In the US, seeing into the future is a cheap show: crystal balls on the beach, fortune dispensing machines, and poker cards, but in China, it's a science, a tradition, and often times, scarily accurate.

Ever since my mother told me about this palm reader, I've always been curious about how palm reading works. Luckily for me, I spent Sunday in the ancient town of Anchang, a small place that most people (including Chinese people) have never heard of. Resting next to a heavily polluted stream, where the water is this mysterious mutant green color and small boats slowly row across, Anchang has managed to preserve its culture and old town feeling. Aside from small shops and restaurants, there's not too much there. But to my delight, there were many palm readers.

Upon crossing the first bridge into Anchang, there was an old man looking at another's palm, making periodic declarations like "Your daughter will get a small illness in 2 years." At first, the old man seemed to be pretty legitimate so I'd figured I'd give it a try...and then I discovered that quacks aren't unique to the US. According to him, I'm going to get married at 28, become a government official at 31, have a husband who is also a government official, have two sons and two daughters, retire at 79, and die at 91. Unconvincing, only to be exacerbated by the fact that he then said I should go to school in the States as a foreign exchange student. Case closed.

My friend and I then undertook the mission of finding a legitimate palm reader. After asking around, we ended up in a small room with a younger-looking man who palm reads only on weekends. Upon my expressing trepidation and skepticism, he offered to read my palm and tell me about myself for free...it was legitimate. And so, I then let him do ba zi (8 words), which delves into your life via date and time of birth. He spent a lot of time so I'll neglect the little details but some highlights: The most lucky times of my life are 12-22 and post-32, I'll marry around 32, my first child will be a son, my brother has more potential to be successful than me, my health will always be good, the more I pick the worse the situation will become so I should stop being a perfectionist, and so on. I can't say I really believe all of these predictions, but we'll just have to wait and see...

The front gate of An Chang.

I don't know how many tourists come here, but there's English!

Please note the heavily polluted green water. This old man followed us around and continuously asked us if we wanted to ride in his boat.

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