Hong Kong face readers raise quite a few eyebrows

Traditional Hong Kong face reader Chow Hon-ming holds a mobile phone displaying images of US presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as he predicts Clinton to win the election as her chin is “stronger” than rival Trump’s. (Photo: AFP)

Want to improve your performance at work, or solve relationship problems Li Chau-jing has the solution — plucking your eyebrows to help achieve those life goals.

A trained face reader, Ms Li has taken the ancient Chinese tradition one step further, making slight changes to her client’s brows to bring them better luck.

Stalls practising the face-reading discipline, which dates back more than 2,000 years, are still found in market streets and near temples in modern-day Hong Kong.

Practitioners believe they can determine a client’s fate by interpreting their features — a strong brow translates to the person’s ability to plan ahead, high cheekbones can point to power.

The face can be read like a book, they say, a showcase of a person’s wealth, health and family.

But Ms Li claims she can help alter the path of destiny with a few flicks of her tweezers.

“It’s an instant change and you can change it for everyone,” she told AFP, describing her clientele as ranging from just a few years old to in their 70s.

“I can help a person in the shortest amount of time, by bringing them energy and happiness and the goal they want to reach,” Ms Li said.

She has been running her shop in the working class neighbourhood of Sham Shui Po for six years. Women tend to come to her to solve emotional or relationship problems, men for better luck at work, she says.

Traditional Hong Kong face reader Chow Hon-ming says the art is a scientific discipline that ties in with some of the tenets of traditional Chinese medicine.

Face reading has been practised in China for thousands of years but became a popular practise in the 10th century because the social upheaval in the dying days of the Tang Dynasty prompted many to worry more about their fate, mR Chow said. “There are turning points in a person’s life, and when you can’t make a decision at those points, you might want to seek a (face reading) master,” HE said.

A face reader starts with the left ear, which tells the story of the first seven years of a person’s life. The right ear reflects the next seven years, followed by the nose, eyes and chin, which are used to predict later life.