Fortune Tellingin Night Markets

Introduction• We call it “Suan Ming” which means

“calculate life.”

• For Taiwanese, fortune telling is both mysterious and divine. It is a significant aspect of our culture.

• It’s an important part of social and business culture in East and South-East Asia.

Features• Fortune telling is practiced in various

ways . Some of them are even not known to most people.

• Examples: Name analysis, face reading, palm reading, interpretation of characters, and reading the direction in which animals move.

• Here we are going to introduce two of them.

Your fortune is ……

Yi- Jing • It has another name called “Chou – I”.• And it’s one of the oldest classic in

ancient China. • In Western countries, it is also called the

“Book of Changes” or the “Classic of Changes”.

• Most fortune tellers view it as an oracle.• By calculating the movement of yin and

yang, you can know about your future.

Bird Divination

• We call it “Niao Gua” in Mandarin.

• Most bird divination stands are located in the night market near Banqiao Train Station.

How Birds Tell your Future • The fortune teller whispers your name, age, birth

date and your question to the birds.• Then, one of the bird selects a small stick from a

pot. • The fortune teller analyzes the Chinese character on the stick and tell you the answer to your question. • The bird can only answer your specific questions rather than tell you about your future.