Contents

Mien Shiang

Traditional Chinese face reading

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Mien Shiang" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Some of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed. (December 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs more complete citations for verification. Please help add missing citation information so that sources are clearly identifiable. (December 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article is part of a serieson
Alternative medicine
General information Alternative medicine History Terminology Alternative veterinary medicine Quackery (health fraud) Rise of modern medicine Pseudoscience Antiscience Skepticism Scientific Therapeutic nihilism
Fringe medicine and science Acupressure Acupuncture Alkaline diet Anthroposophic medicine Apitherapy Applied kinesiology Aromatherapy Association for Research and Enlightenment Auriculotherapy Bates method Biological terrain assessment Black salve Bodywork Bone-setting Bowen technique Breathwork Fake COVID-19 treatments Camel urine Cancer treatments Charcoal cleanse Chiropractic Chiropractic treatment techniques Vertebral subluxation Christian Science Chromotherapy Colloidal silver Colon cleansing Coffee enema Colorpuncture Conversion therapy Craniosacral therapy Crystal healing Cupping therapy Dental amalgam controversy Detoxification Foot detox Dry needling Ear candling Energy medicine Correactology Esoteric energy Reiki Therapeutic touch Estrogen dominance Fabunan Antiviral Injection Facilitated communication FasciaBlaster Feldenkrais Method Functional medicine Hair analysis Herbal medicine Holistic dentistry Hologram bracelet Homeopathy Bach flower remedies Hydrotherapy Hypnotherapy Ionized jewelry Iridology Jilly Juice Lightning Process Lymphotherapy Magnet therapy Manual therapy Medical intuitive Megavitamin therapy Mesmerism Mind–body interventions MMS Myofascial release NAET Naturopathy Oil pulling Orgone Orthomolecular medicine Orthopathy Osteomyology Osteopathy Ozone therapy Parapsychology Phrenology Postural Integration Psychic surgery Psychodermatology Quantum healing Radionics Rapid prompting method Reflexology RBOP Rolfing Scientific racism ThetaHealing Thought Field Therapy Urophagia Vaginal steaming Vegetotherapy Vision therapy Vitalism Young blood transfusion Zero balancing
Conspiracy theories Big Pharma conspiracy theories HIV/AIDS denialism OPV AIDS hypothesis Anti-vaccinationism Vaccine misinformation Vaccines and autism MMR vaccine and autism in chiropractic Water fluoridation controversy COVID-19 misinformation Turbo cancer
Classifications Alternative medical systems Mind–body intervention Biologically based therapy Manipulative methods Energy therapy
Traditional medicine African Muti Southern Africa Ayurveda Dosha MVAH Balneotherapy Brazilian Bush medicine Cambodian Chinese Blood stasis Chinese herbology Dit da Gua sha Gill plate trade Long gu Meridian Moxibustion Pressure point Qi San Jiao Tui na Zang-fu Chumash Curandero Faith healing Hilot Iranian Jamu Kayakalpa Kambo Japanese Korean Mien Shiang Mongolian Naftalan oil Prophetic medicine Shamanism Shiatsu Siddha Sri Lankan Thai massage Tibetan Unani Vietnamese
Alternative diagnoses Adrenal fatigue Aerotoxic syndrome Candida hypersensitivity Chronic Lyme disease Electromagnetic hypersensitivity Heavy legs Leaky gut syndrome Multiple chemical sensitivity PANDAS Vertebral subluxation Wilson's temperature syndrome
v t e

Mien shiang (Chinese: 面相; pinyin: miànxiàng meaning face (mien) reading (shiang)) is a physiognomic and fortune-telling practice in Chinese culture and traditional Chinese medicine which purports to determine aspects of person's character, personality, and (future) health by analyzing their face according to the five phases ("wu xing"). The five phases (namely wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) are metaphors devised by ancient Chinese philosophers to explain the relationship, interaction, and ongoing change of everything in the universe.^[1] In recent times the art of face reading has become more popular and schools that teach mien shiang more wide spread.^{[citation needed]}

There are early written records of mien shiang. In Book of Rites, it writes, "Those who look up are arrogant; Those who look down are worried; Those who look sideways are sly". After Gou Jian (勾践) of Yue (c. 470 BCE) settled the State of Wu, Fan Li (范蠡) (536–488 BCE) knew that Gou Jian had a "long neck and sharp upper lips", which meant they could face hardship together but not enjoy peace together.^[2] Fan Li later fled with Xi Shi (西施) to the State of Qi and changed their names to lead a new life. Another historical example in which Mien Shiang was used was Wang Anshi (王安石) of Song Dynasty. Wang's eyes resembled those of ox, and his head shaped like those of tigers.^[3] It was said^{[by whom?]} that if Wang could stare straight at the sun, he had a face with good fortune (贵相).^{[citation needed]}

The words below are a description of mien shiang terminology, such as "three parts of one's face" (三停) which includes the upper part (上停), middle part (中停), and lower part (下停).

1. Yin-Yang (陰陽)
2. Three parts of one's face (三停) are the upper part, middle part, and lower part. ^[4]
3. Upper part (上停) is area between the forehead between the hairline and eyebrows. This section represents the fortune between ages 10 to 20, which is one's youth.
4. Middle part (中停) is the area between the eyebrows and the bottom of the nose. This section represents the fortune between ages 20 to 40, which is one's adult years.
5. Lower part (下停) is the area between the bottom of the nose to the chin. This section represents the fortune after ages 40, which is one's older adult years.^[5]
6. Five organs on one's face (五官) includes one's ears, eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth.
7. Face Shape (面型) includes ten major kinds: You (由), Jia (甲), Shen (申), Tian (田), Tong (同), Wang (王), Yuan (圓), Mu (目), Yong (用), and Feng (風).
8. Twelve Houses (十二宮) includes the 12 basic parts on one's face that represent different aspects of life. They are the life house (命宮), wealth house (財帛宮), sibling house (兄弟宮), marriage house (夫妻宮), children house (子女宮), health house (疾危宮), travelling house (遷移宮), assistant house (奴僕宮), career house (官祿宮), property house (田宅宮), fortune & emotion house (福德宮), and parents house (父母宮).
9. Wrinkle (紋), scar (痕), mole (痣), speckle (斑).
10. Nei Shiang (內相) is the internal aspect of the body including shoulders, waist, back, chest, abdomen, umbilicus, forearms, limbs, neck, breasts (for women), and others.
11. Gu Shiang (骨相) is bone reading, including the skull and the bones in the body.
12. Dong Shiang (動相) is the individual's movement, including walking (行相), sitting and standing (坐立相), eating (食相), lying (臥相), crying (哭相), and laughing (笑相).
13. Sheng Shiang (聲相) is the sounds that one makes.

• Metoposcopy
• Physiognomy
• Phrenology

This China-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article about alternative medicine is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.