Chinese fortune teller

Chinese tea fortune telling sticks

A crash course in the ancient pseudoscience of determining your future.

Chinese Fortune Tellers, made from regular notebook paper, provided inexpensive, homemade entertainment for my sister and me, especially on Saturday mornings while Momma enjoyed a wash and set and whatever else she did in the name of glamor at Lucille's Beauty Shop. Yesterday's child was easily amused, and the Chinese Fortune Teller was super intriguing. Yes, in the back

The Fortune Teller - Hong Kong

“The more good fortune one can provide, the better the business.” Such is the business model of the fortune-teller shops behind a Taoist temple in Hong Kong, China photographed by Belgium photographer Kris Vervaeke. Totaling about 100, each fortune-teller office looks like a storefront that might offer a different service than what’s being advertised inside. Vervaeke photographs each of the shops straight-on, showing about the same amount of visual information in each. This adds to an eerie…

Every culture has its own unique superstitions and China is no different. Let’s take a look at some of these Chinese superstitions, and how they may bring you either good luck or bad luck.

Ohio Thrift, 4/22/15: CHI-CHI Chinese Daily Fortune Teller (1930's)

Fortune-teller in Shanghai lane in 1940's by Lester Hajenina.

The compass was probably invented in the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) by Chinese fortune-tellers who used the stones to construct their fortune telling boards. But they eventually realised that the stones were always pointed towards the north, and the compass really came into being.