In Hong Kong, Lines In Your Face Are Your Fortune

February 03, 1985|By Ruth Heimbuecher, Scripps-Howard News Service.

HONG KONG — Fortune telling is an old and honorable tradition here. You can hold out your palm and have the creases interpreted. You can shake a stick out of a can and the number on the stick corresponds with a prophecy printed on a small slip of paper.

Rarest with Westerners is the practice of face reading or physiognomy. Bone structure and wrinkles come under close scrutiny by an expert in this arcane Oriental art.

All three techniques are practiced at Wong Tai Sin Temple in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. On the terrace of the temple, with the fragrance of burning incense wafting over the faithful, there also is the clatter of sticks hitting the bottom and sides of the tin can that holds them.

It requires a certain steadiness of hand and a some patience to shake out just one stick from many in the tiny, close-packed forest. Once you do, you make a note of the number and, at the other end of the temple grounds, pick up your fortune. If you can`t read Chinese, a translator will interpret for a small fee. If you can`t understand spoken Chinese either, it helps to have another translator along. Cecilia Wong and Lily Chen from the Hong Kong Tourist Association did that chore for me.

The fortune that matched my number--52--came out this way:

``You need to be patient and consistent. You cannot shift from one job to another. But if you stay in the business for a long time and work hard, you will get promoted.``

Gee, I didn`t know my reputation for job-hopping had reached the ears of the seers. I had a job for two years in 1955-56, then moved to the Pittsburgh Press late in 1956 where I`ve been ever since. Apparently I shouldn`t have been so rash as to switch back then.

The fortune continued:

``Your business appreciates you, but your colleagues may be very jealous of you.``

Doubtful on both counts.

Maybe a face reader would reinforce or refute this information. Just steps from the temple, we walked through a long passageway, dusky under a striped awning and lined on both sides with fortune tellers` booths.

But which fortune teller to choose? We strolled the passage one way, eyeing the possibilities and decided on the sole woman. When Cecilia and Lily approached her, she declined. They didn`t say why, but since we were the only Westerners, it`s possible she thought we were frivolous tourists, just there for a lark.

We continued our slow stroll back and stopped at the booth of Yip Yek, a man of wise, sober countenance, sparse mustache and six chin whiskers. Drawing deliberately on his cigarette, he agreed to a reading, but told Cecilia and Lucy it would cost 100 Hong Kong dollars (about $13 U.S.).

The price agreed upon, he began a 20-minute reading of my palm and face. He talked constantly, and as translated and abbreviated by Cecilia, it came out like this:

``Your health is sound; you are resistant to disease; you are imaginative and think a lot. But don`t think too much, or you will be troubled. You will live comfortably all your life. Don`t misplace your confidence in people.

``You will meet someone who will appreciate you and try to help you.

``Your short index finger indicates not enough self-control and that short people pick on you.

``The lines in your forehead are drawbacks. They indicate problems that can be overcome.

``After 45, your luck turns for the better, and 45 to 48 is a good period. There`s a money problem between 49 and 50. After age 57, your luck turns for the best; you will feel satisfied. A health problem at 61 is followed by good luck and long life. You will easily live to over 70.

``Advice for now: Wait a year or two for good luck. Don`t keep changing. Don`t push yourself. Look for lots of people who can help you.`` (I always do.)

The reading was over, and now I am still pondering Yek`s pronouncements and trying to interpret them. Lily told me he was well-known--famous, even

--and that her father had consulted him years ago. Yek forecast that her father would have a serious illness and pinpointed the year. It came to be.