Fortune Sticks, Chien tung

A quiz so retro you have no questions to answer.
Decide where to go using this ancient method of fortune sticks.

Traditionally referred to as kau cim, but known alternately as chien tung or Chinese fortune sticks in the West, the sticks are usually made of bamboo and number about a 100 in each cup( we’re working towards that number).

How it’s done: Think of a question silently (and resolutely, as there are to be no changes in the question once you’ve begun shaking the can of sticks. In this instance, we’d made it easy for you and pre-selected the question- ‘Where should (I) go next?’) Begin shaking the sticks. The solitary stick that falls out of the canister represents your ‘fortune’. In the instance where multiple sticks fall out of the canister, these multiple sticks and the fortunes they represent will not count and you’d have to repeat the process of shaking the can of sticks all over again. Aside: On our site, the can throws out just one stick by default although the online equivalent of the invalid result is probably the ‘undefined’ result. The fortune (stick), once cast, will be your fortune and you’re not to repeat the process again in the quest of finding a more favourable fortune.

The solitary stick(with a number) is then presented to an interpreter who would, with the help of a book of Chinese phrases and stories and usually in return for a small fee, interpret your fortune based on the number on the stick. Because the interpretation of fortunes is an art and never a science, different interpreters will tend to interpret the same number differently and it is acceptable practice to run your fortune stick by multiple interpreters.

Where it’s practiced: Most well-known destination for kau cim is in the Wong Tai Sin temple of Hong Kong, located on the north of Kowloon. However, the practice of kau cim can also be found in the Buddhist temples of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

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