Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 7/Liars Mart
BOOK VII—PLAUSIBLE PRETENTIONS
(扯謊壩) The Liars' Mart (天話街), T‘ien hua chieh
The above name is applied to the Yamen or temple courtyards or any place where there is concourse of people, and where the fortuneteller, geomancer, physiognomist, sorcerer and witch doctors have their stands. To try and follow these men into all the intricacies of their dark and crooked ways is impossible. It will be our plan to find out what they pretend to accomplish, under what pretences they obtain a living and how the people are fleeced by them. They are divided into classes; the first to mention is the business of the Startler, Ching shêng i (驚生意), under which the following take their places:—
The ts‘ê tzŭ (測字) tells fortunes by dissecting characters and putting them together again.
Suan ming (算命), the fortuneteller. This class differs from the former in that it may pretend to define a whole life, while those who dissect characters generally confine themselves to one particular matter. The fortunetellers are divided into two schools, one called the chang chang tzŭ (張張子), who tells a person's fortune and gives it to his client in writing; the other is known as the t‘ieh pan suan (鐵板算) who are mostly blind, who after hearing the client tell the fortune viva voce.
P‘u kua (卜卦) is to forecast future events by means of the eight diagrams, to divine.
K‘an hsiang (看相). The physiognomist makes the book Liu chuang shên hsiang (柳莊神相) by Shui Ching of the Han dynasty, or the ma i (麻衣) hsiang by Ch‘ên Tuan of the Sung dynasty the basis of his art.
The following are some of the things they pretend to be able to do:—
They guarantee that their clients will get by raffle the funds of the joint stock company. Several people join in a company when they want to get a larger sum together than they could otherwise do at one time, but by paying in monthly instalments they can manage it. The fund is raffled for each month at the home of one of their number. Some families who want the money quickly appeal to this class for assistance to get the lucky number.
They undertake the protection of a family from demons and snakes. They also fix the site of a dwelling house, the choice of a lucky day to begin building, and the lucky day for hoisting the top beam of the house.
They fix a lucky day for funerals, marriages and almost everything, by an appeal to the stars. Each day has a governing star and they decide whether the day star agrees with the birth star of the individual. This is one of the most common of the methods of fixing a lucky day, and it is done by what is known as the fa chia, one of the schools of geomancy.
They fix a lucky day by what is known as an appeal to the three things which harmonize; that is, heaven, earth, and man. This method is known as the hsing chia (形家), or k‘an yü (堪輿) chia, and is another of the schools of geomancy.
Wu ho (合) and liu ho. They tell fortunes by an appeal to the five elements, gold, wood, water, fire and earth, or by an appeal to the four points of the compass with the zenith and nadir. These methods are used by fortunetellers and geomancers.
They contract for the bringing of a lunatic to his right mind.
They arrange for the removal of a ghost from a house. If houses have uncanny sounds or have the reputation of being haunted or are troubled with snakes, insects or other vermin, the geomancer fixes a lucky day and invites a sorcerer to assist him drive out the pests or ghosts.
Divining by copper cash is called Wên Wang kua. On the side of the cash are Chinese characters, that side is known as ma tzŭ (麻子). The side with Manchu characters is known as the mo êrh (末兒). Three cash are used and the count kept as to how many ma tzŭ or mo êrh show in six throws of the coins.
Mei hua shu (梅花數), to divine by whatever the divining person may carry in the hand or on the person is known as sui chi ying pien (隨機應變), to answer as occasion demands.
They also divine by the use of the six jên (壬) or combinations in the sexagenary cycle; by this method it is said that they can find out the name, dwelling place and likeness of a thief and where he has hidden the stolen goods, and other necessary details.
There is a method of divining invented by Shao K‘ang-chieh of the Han dynasty. It was largely prophetic and dealt with the future of the country. Though this method is still used, few if any are able to understand it fully.
Ch‘i mên tun chia (奇門遁甲), to divine by an appeal to the stars. This method is generally used in connection with prophetic prognostications.
Divining by the use of dominos is a method used to fix the dates for marriages, to find lost articles or a lost relative, or when wealth may be obtained.