Video: The working days of Chinese future forecasters: The Fortune Market by Kris Vervaeke
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The Fortune Market by Kris Vervaeke shows the inner workings of the ancient fortune teller business that is still surprisingly popular in China today.
You enter a tiny, cramped nook of a concrete structure, one of many in the shopping mall behind the Taoist Temple. A lone table and a few chairs virtually nullify the already limited space. The walls of the room are decorated with feathers, tassels, posters, and colorful symbols to lure luck.
A nondescript-looking stranger in simple clothes sits at the table. He glances over the visitor and invites him to sit down. Whatever your problem is - unhappy love, failing health, a serious deal, or family problems - you are about to entrust this person with the most important decision in your life.
The owner of an unusual shop is a professional fortune-teller who can read the future by the face, palm, with the help of bamboo sticks, or according to the Bazi system. While this practice may sound downright wild to the Western ear, the fortune teller business is one of the pillars of Hong Kong's social life.
A colorful series of photographs "Market of Fate" by Chris Werwack shows how people live and work, whom some call the prophets of the highest wisdom, and others - shameless charlatans. The photographer tried to approach the problem as objectively as possible, as if he himself was wandering along the shopping alley in order to acquire from a complete stranger the fate that he most liked.
“Fortunetellers come to the profession in different ways,” says Vervak. - For some, this is a family business, passing from generation to generation. Others are trained by the Master or acquire the necessary skills on their own. However, the future of such shops is precarious as it becomes more difficult to find successors. He also adds that the surge in popularity of online predictors is putting traditional businesses in jeopardy.
Marketplace of Fate underlines the striking contrast between the shabby look of "retail outlets" and the sublime materials that their owners appeal to in an attempt to solve serious human problems. And yet, despite the general shabby and dubious efficiency, the establishments and their owners have a certain charm, remaining the last refuge of an ancient and noble tradition. It does not matter whether the fortuneteller is considered a spiritual mentor, an intermediary of higher powers, or a business consultant, people are still ready to turn to them for help and advice.
By the way, “fortuneteller” is not the strangest thing that can be written in the column “occupation” when filling out an official questionnaire. For example, Nancy Schiff's models might call themselves a "dog food taster" or a "dinosaur mopper," which, while devoid of otherworldly flair, sounds just as cool.
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