Fortune tellers

This past week in my writing class, I asked students to write on the topic of fortune tellers in their journal.  I had several reasons for choosing this topic.  First, while I frequently notice fortune tellers sitting on the sidewalk when I’m out and about, I don’t know that much about them.  Second, I was curious how much interaction my students and their families have with fortune tellers.  Third, the question would help me with one of my graduate assignments.  I was surprised by how quickly and feverishly students began to write when I announced the topic.  Most days, half of the students sit thinking and conjuring up ideas for a few minutes before beginning to write.  However, I had quite obviously hit on an opinionated topic here.  Students’ journal entries were the most verbose I had received this year.  Almost all wrote about how common fortune tellers are in China.  A lot of students doubt the veracity of fortune tellers’ knowledge and advice, yet they see fortune tellers as an important part of society for giving people encouragement and confidence.  A few students view fortune tellers in a negative light as people scamming the innocent.  Then there were the few students who admit that though reason and education call for skepticism, they nonetheless have faith in the words of fortune tellers.  For these students, personal experiences weigh heavier in their minds than scientific theories.  There is the student who was perpetually ill as a child.  Doctors could give no explanation for her frequent illnesses.  Out of desperation the family visited a fortune teller, and upon following his advice to move to a new location, the student was instantly healed.  Even more riveting is the following account from another student.

Not all Chinese people believe in fortune tellers, but I am one of them who believes in them without a doubt.  When I was young, my father and I were riding a motorcycle on the road.  A strong wind blew, and my hat fell off my head.  Suddenly, a car came by and drove over the hat.  After that, we picked the hat up and I put it back on.  That night, I had a serious fever.  I took some pills but they didn’t work at all.  The next day, I still didn’t get any better.  Some family members heard and said it maybe was because of the hat, so a family member took my parents and I to see a fortune teller.  He was a middle-aged man, and he said something that we didn’t understand to a picture, then burned a paper on which some strange words were written.  Then he mixed the burned paper with some water and asked me to drink it.  He said the car which drove onto the hat had once killed a person, so it was wrong for me to put the hat on again.  Then I went home, I felt sleepy and after about one hour’s sleep I woke up and the fever was totally gone. Maybe I wouldn’t believe it if this thing was told by another person, but it happened to me, so after that I believe in these kind of things.

Such experiences show a part of Chinese culture that is not widely discussed, but thrives as an answer to the uncertainties of life.