Could the shape of your face dictate the shape of your life? Photo: Courtesy of www. bbs.0724c.com

By Tong Ting

Media reports have circulated recently over various high-end matchmaking events and services offered for wealthy Chinese, with critics expressing their concern over the materialistic values espoused by these promotions. But another side of these events was demonstrated at an event held last week in Guangzhou where one of the criteria for women was to have their faces "read" by a bazi master, to see if their features will suit their future husbands' lives.

Your face doesn't fit

But what possible bearing can the shape of one's nose or brow have on a relationship or even one's destiny? According to Dong Yilin, president of International I Ching Academy, the answer is "plenty." Different face types can determine one's love life, Dong avows: "For example, women with round faces generally tend to have good fortune and will enhance their husbands' careers."

Sounds good? If you're of a mind to listen to this stuff, Dong has some further advice, especially if you're the type who's into catwalk model looks or Mongolian women.

"We have an old saying about women with high cheekbones," Dong warns. "'Women with high cheekbones kill their husbands without using knives. This group of women tends to have strong personalities and can sometimes restrict their husbands' [behavior]. But they tend to have successful careers," he added.

Nevertheless, he admits that a person's face alone cannot give the whole picture. There are other important things to take into account. Personality? Common interests? Not quite. "You also need to add up one's voice, figure and palmistry for a well-rounded conclusion."

Beware false profits

Bazi, which literally means "eight characters" in Chinese, is used to determine one's fate (for a more detailed explanation, see Crystal Balls? February 25, 2010). A session with a bazi master can be expensive. Dong charges 5,800 yuan for a one-and-half hour "comprehensive" reading, including marriage, relationship, health and career predictions.

"A lot of people think it's superstitious but I believe it is scientific. It's just like mathematics. You compare two people's bazi together and see if they're a good match." It might sound dubious, but Dong claims he had successfully predicted many cases in the past, and his work is particularly in demand in South China and among parents of young couples.

When Lifestyle visited for a reading, we were asked our birth year (Mouse). Dong had bad news and good news: Next year would be tough for mice, but he had an elaborately packaged charm I was to use every day after my shower (it had to be kept away from water) that would help.

"Many couples come to me, and I could tell them which year, and sometimes even which month, they would break up. Most of them were proved correct." It appears many of his clients return to him when their relationships "successfully" self-destruct, seeking further advice.

A case of true foresight or self-fulfilling prophecy? Some are skeptical, especially among the young generation. "I was thinking about having our bazi checked out by Masters," Du Tian, a 26-year-old Beijing girl told Lifestyle of her current relationship, "but I changed my mind after my boyfriend told me his ex did it and the Master told them they were a perfect match."

But it seems, for some, traditional fortune-telling still helps when it comes to making difficult relationship decisions. "I went to a bazi master after I had some problems with my ex-boyfriend," said Lin Xiaofeng, 30, from Guangzhou. "He confirmed my decision. After he told me we weren't meant to be, I didn't regret it."

Dong unsurprisingly endorsed this conclusion. "A married couple was deciding whether to get divorced," he recalled, "so they came to me. I convinced them they weren't meant to be together. Now they're divorced and still come to me when facing troubles in their life."

Photo: CFP

Flawed for foreigners

If you're thinking of testing whether your apparently flourishing relationship with a Chinese is worth its salt with bazi, though, perhaps you should think again. Dong suggests that this traditional Chinese way of interpreting one's fate based on "empirical facts" doesn't always apply to foreigners or people living abroad.

"We opened a branch in Vancouver, Canada, last year. But I found out that many predictions failed, no matter if it was Chinese or Westerners. The time differences and environmental changes altered one's bazi, so their destiny was no longer the same."

Expats' change of country invalidates most readings and as far as face-reading is concerned, he has to reverse his methods. For example, he briefly delighted this Lifestyle editor by saying that "having a big nose is a good thing for a Chinese, as it means they are fated to be rich or to be a government official."

Joy turned to disappointment, however, when he added: "Since most Westerners have big noses, it is, on the contrary, not a good thing for them."