ARTS / CULTURE & LEISURE
Booming astrology industry reflects rising anxiety among young Chinese
Published: Aug 23, 2021 06:43 PM
Photo: VCG

Photo: VCG



Online lucky draws, horoscopes and tarot readings, young Chinese are more willing than ever to put their fate in the hands of online fortune tellers, a trend that some experts say reveals an increase in anxiety about life in today's complicated society.

Without any warning, Tao Baibai, a Chinese horoscope influencer, has trended on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo at least five times over the past month as people in China, especially the young, have begun paying increased attention to the blogger who has been telling fortunes for years. 

This "divination tycoon" has attracted nearly 20 million followers on short video platform Douyin, 2 million of which joined in just one week. 

Yet, taking a deeper look into the world of Chinese social media, it is clear that this trend hasn't sprung up from nowhere as this "online worship" has been helped along by advances in internet technology for a long time. 

From fortune tellers on WeChat mini programs to horoscopes videos, these have all contributed to the concept of mingyun, or "fate," which has been a popular topic of conversation among Chinese since ancient times. While traditionally people used to head to temples to ask for their fortunes in person, the development of technology has turned this into an online activity, one that has become even more diverse when combined with Western astrology.

"I know it seems like that we're just as superstitious as our grandparents were in the old days, yet it's different," a college student surnamed Li, who has been following her fortune through Tao Baibai for six months, told the Global Times on Monday. "Lots of my friends also watch his channel. But they don't completely believe it. We consider it more like psychological comfort."

Commentators say that the phenomena isn't hard to understand at all, as young people are struggling to suppress their anxiety and confusion in today's stressful social environment.

Ever since 2020, Chinese society has come up with a new buzzword "involution," a social concept introduced by anthropologists that is now generally used to convey how today's highly competitive society often leads to a zero-sum game.

"Our peers are running faster than ever and no one wants to be left behind. Thus our tolerance for mistakes is lessened and the cost of failure becomes higher. So we often need to attribute our potential failure to a third party, something we can direct our anger toward," said Yu, a student studying in Hong Kong who has been a fan of fortune telling for two years. "For example, if I made a mistake on my recent study project, then it was just the bad luck my horoscope foretold. It helps unburden me."

A-Fei, a young woman who has changed jobs twice in recent years, also expressed a similar view. She noted in an interview with Chinese news outlet Huxiu News that she had already made up her mind to change jobs, but she needed an outside source to "confirm" she was making the right choice. 

"I let this third party vouch for my choice," she said.

Those influencers are more like a group of "spiritual masseurs," who conduct "conversation spas" for confused young people and help them regain their direction in life.

"For me it's like a helm to help move my ship forward in the right direction," another horoscope enthusiast told the Global Times.