Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 7/Physiognomists
Physiognomists (相師), hsiang shih
Ma i (麻衣) hsiang fa, Liu chuang (柳莊) hsiang fa and Ta ch'ing (大淸) hsiang fa are well-known books on this science.
Internal physiognomy is called nei hsiang, which includes a study of the fæces, voice, etc., and the external physiognomy, w'ai hsiang, includes a study of the bones; hair growing in ears, nose and eyebrows; colour of the face, etc.
Face physiognomy, mien hsiang, includes the study of the San t'ing (亭) wu kuan, the three divisions of the face and the five organs. The san t'ing are the t'ien t'ing or brow, the chung t'ing or nose, the hsia t'ing or chin.
Shou hsiang, or palmistry, deals with the chiu kung (九宮) or nine places where there is fulness round the palm of the hand, upon which much stress is laid.
The science is based on the following ten characters, which are supposed to represent ten types of Chinese face:—
Yu (由), weak brow; chia (甲), chin weak; shên (申) chin and brow weak; t'ien (田), lacking brow and chin; t'ung (同), mouth prominent, chin lacking; wang (王), equally balanced, jaw lacking; yüan (元), jaw strong, nose weak; mu (木), brow weak, jaw strong; yung (用), strong, but chin lacking; feng (風), a strong face.