Overview of Physiognomy Classics, Chinese Classics on Human Observation

From ancient times to the present, there are no less than a thousand Chinese physiognomy classics, books on face reading, and books on physiognomy. Currently, there are also hundreds of physiognomy books sold in bookstores. They can be roughly divided into three categories, but each has its own shortcomings.

The first category is what people in the fortune-telling field study and read. It is full of terminology and has little vernacular. Even if there is vernacular, it is difficult to understand and is not something that ordinary readers can absorb:

The second category is the collection of columns written by fortune-tellers in newspapers and magazines. Although they are very simple and have many examples, their disadvantage is that they are not systematic. After reading the whole book, you still cannot enter the palace of physiognomy.

The third category is the more systematic books on physiognomy, but the content is not complete. It only discusses the face and does not include the body, sitting posture, walking posture, eating posture, etc. Therefore, it is not a complete book on the art of observing people.

Since the physiognomy books written by modern people cannot escape from the theories in the ancient physiognomy books and are just explanations, we should obtain research materials directly from the ancient physiognomy books rather than reading some insights from the second-hand works of modern people. Therefore, I value ancient physiognomy books more than modern ones.

The Yongle Encyclopedia of the Ming Dynasty included physiognomy books from the Five Dynasties to the Jin Dynasty, including "Records of Yuebo Cave", "Yuguan Zhaoshenju", "Taiqing Shenjian" and "Renlun Datong Fu". Other representative ancient books on physiognomy include Guiguzi, Ma Yi Xiang, and Complete Collection of Divine Physiognomy.

Mr. Guiguzi was a famous person in the Warring States Period. His name was Wang Xu and his birth information is unknown. He had works on politics, diplomacy, military strategy, astronomy, and geography that have been passed down for thousands of years, and he also had his own theories. "Guiguzi" consists of three chapters, among which "The Secret of Knowing the Heart through Face Reading" is the oldest book on face reading in existence. However, it is not very detailed and focuses more on the psychological and spiritual aspects, making it difficult for ordinary people to understand.

"The Great Tong Fu of Human Relations" was written by Zhang Xingjian of the Jin Dynasty. The whole text is only about three thousand words, but it explains physiognomy concisely. It is also a good short article on physiognomy. There are books on the market that have made a great interpretation of this article, but they go the other way and make it complicated, making readers more confused as they read on.

During the Ming Dynasty, with the accumulation of knowledge from previous dynasties, two books, "Ma Yi Xiang" and "Shen Xiang Quan Bian", were created. The former was written by Bao Su of the Ming Dynasty, and was attributed to the work of Ma Yi Taoist of the Five Dynasties. It includes three verses, "Shen Yi Fu", "Jinsuo Fu" and "Yin Shi Fu", but the words used are too simple and it cannot be a great work in itself.

However, in later generations, fortune tellers from all over the country took this as a basis and continued to deduce and establish their theories, resulting in the emergence of a large number of physiognomy books attributed to Ma Yi, thus forming the Ma Yi School of Physiognomy, which became one of the famous physiognomy schools among the people and was quite popular in Southeast Asia. Many of these books focus on practicality and have illustrations, without abstract theories, thus becoming must-read books for those who want to get started.

After I studied and compared all the ancient and modern books on physiognomy, I believe that the "Complete Collection of Divine Physiognomy" attributed to Chen Xiyi of the Song Dynasty and revised by Yuan Zhongche of the Ming Dynasty should be the best book on physiognomy. It was included in the "Complete Collection of Ancient and Modern Books" in the early Qing Dynasty and is a culmination of physiognomy. Personally, I believe that if you can study this book carefully, you can become an expert in physiognomy. In fact, many people in the field of fortune-telling now use this book as a model, learn methods from it and start their own business.

The Dictionary of Chinese Physiognomy (edited by Zhang Jiemin) says: The Complete Collection of Divine Physiognomy is one of the most popular physiognomy books in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is included in the Complete Works of Ancient and Modern Books•Compilation of Natural History•Art Dictionary•Physiognomy Section, and there is a version published by Shihanlou in the 51st year of Qianlong's reign. This book has both general and specific discussions, and collects many ancient works on physiognomy, making it a comprehensive work on physiognomy.

This view is the same as mine, and later works on physiognomy have not deviated from the scope of "Complete Collection of Divine Physiognomy". Therefore, if you want to study physiognomy, you have to use this book as a textbook.

However, the book is 530 pages long, with nearly 200,000 words, and is written in classical Chinese. It contains a lot of professional terms in physiognomy and is difficult to understand. It is not something that the general public can read and understand today. If it is translated into vernacular, it will probably be more than 500,000 words, which is not something that ordinary readers can absorb. Therefore, after many years of research, I realized the importance of people-watching in modern society, especially in the era of openness. Therefore, in order to enable people in today's society to easily learn how to watch people, I used "The Complete Collection of Divine Physiognomy" as the framework, extracted the essence, and then gave it a modern spirit. I also referred to the explanation in the "Dictionary of Chinese Physiognomy" to make a complete interpretation, rather than blindly quoting various ancient texts.

Therefore, this book "Commercial Anthropometry" can be said to be a modern classic of Chinese physiognomy. Any reader can learn the whole picture of physiognomy and become an expert in anthropometry by using an easy reading method and following the steps written in this book. This is something that other physiognomy books cannot do. "Complete Collection of Divine Physiognomy" said: The face is the abode of all spirits, the spiritual pathway to the five internal organs, and the image of the three talents, which determines the gains and losses of the body. It can be seen that physiognomy is the most important.

Bosses who read this book can select excellent supervisors and recruit employees with potential; supervisors who read this book can understand the personalities of their subordinates and assign suitable positions to suitable positions; students who read this book can make good friends; people in society who read this book can choose their business partners... In short, in the modern society that emphasizes interpersonal relationships, openness, and social interaction, this book "Business Observation" is an indispensable and valuable guide.

The above is an overview of physiognomy classics and Chinese anthropometry classics introduced to you by the editor of Dream Interpreter. Hopefully, it will be helpful to you. If you want to learn more about physiognomy classics, please continue to pay attention.