[Music]
hong kong is a modern metropolis but
ancient beliefs from chinese folk
religion permeate every aspect
of people's daily lives they are a part
of the city's cultural identity
concepts like destiny and karma are deep
rooted people pay feng shui consultants
thousands of dollars to balance the
different energies at home
and create a harmonious environment for
good luck
even calendars here will tell you the
lucky hours of the day
and fortune tellers like 71 year old mr
lam
are popular with locals especially young
people
who yearn for reassurance in a world of
uncertainty
every night for over three decades mr
lam has set up his stall
on a street full of fortune tellers but
this normally busy block
now falls quiet the soothsayers rely on
tourists and locals alike for business
but because of the coronavirus pandemic
hong kong has bad tourists
since late march
[Applause]
[Music]
in the world of chinese divination there
are many methods
to decipher the future the street
fortune tellers
tend to focus on a popular view this is
grace
another fortune teller on this street
[Music]
literally means eight words each person
has their own set of parts
based on their date and time of birth
it's believed to form the blueprint
of one's personality relationships and
destiny
[Music]
um
[Music]
the roots of chinese fortune telling can
be traced back to one of the oldest
books in china
the eating or book of changes
the three thousand-year-old divination
book lays out different variations of a
set of symbols
these symbols are said to represent the
universe
while many street fortune tellers say
the eating
forms the foundation of their work
others argue that they deviate widely
from the text
and only borrow lightly from it
street fortune tellers like mr lam also
claim they cannot predict
everything
[Music]
uh
[Music]
foreign
you