Chinese fortune-telling cannot be separated from the times and places we are living around.
When we do fortune-telling, we cannot just tell one‘s luck in a specific year but the luck throughout their lives. In Chinese, we say Qi, this is the natural energy born out of the universe. People got Qi as well. Qi has already started to work before you recognize it. That’s the same as you can feel the rain would come through before it starts. The No.1 Qi is from this universe, and that’s what we call Tianyun, meaning the fate of this whole universe. The next Qi is from a specific place, and we call it Diyun, meaning the luckiness and fate of a specific place. The last Qi is for people, we call it Renyun. This is the fortune-telling you usually heard. Everyone has an Eight Characters， as he or she comes from different places, there would be diverse results in Qi, leading to different types of life.
Guanyin Xiangsheng， this is a kind of luck in ancient times, and the person would be humble and respected by others. However, in modern days, the owner of this fate could feel under pressure. People would think of him as stingy. Another example, Shi Shang Sheng Cai. In ancient times, business is the last thing you chose to make a living in China. Businessman and their possession are controlled by government officials, you cannot make your own decision even with a lot of wealth. However, it is way different from nowadays. Shi Shang Sheng Cai, if you have this, you might earn a good fortune and raise a family in good condition, or you might have the power to swing the economic condition around a place. Lots of people would be influenced by your decision.
We have an old saying, the No.1 luck belongs to fate across your whole life, and we can tell it from your Eight Characters. The No.2 is your luck in specific years. Then comes Fengshui of the place you are staying at. The fourth luck could be created by giving. Learning and schooling is the fifth way to create luck. The last one is making an adaption of trends. The No.1 luck, Ming, decides on your living condition. The No.2 luck would tell you how this living condition comes thing, will it be very easy or hard. Giving and doing good things without asking for anything would pay you back. Schooling would change the way of living and viewing, particularly in poor areas. The last thing is last but not least, it is tough and valuable because not everyone knows how to adapt to lifestyles he or she has never tried.
The No.1 and No.2 luck would make the largest influence, Fengshui, giving, and schooling only affect your luck in a limited way. But in this limited way, you should try your best.
Fortune-telling, palmistry, face-reading, and Fengshui, are born out from experiences of our ancestors. It is not a science of religion; it is a science of statistics. The science of fortune-telling, tells you the whole and the comprehensive instead of a part. On Fengshui, one small change could happen every nine years, and a big change drops every twenty years. On Ming（fate）, you could have luck for ten years or even thirty years. You could never know fate, but you could get a peek of it. And that’s enough for you to make a difference. You are born to make an adaption to this world, not the other way around. Your fate, Ming, cannot be changed, but the perception you have to view it and feel it could be. Your feelings would become a story wears on your face, and that’s what we call Xiang You Xin Sheng. You are the owner of your fate.
