From the oracle bone divination, star-gazing and choosing auspicious days of the ancient Shang period, together with later developments such as divination by the Eight Cyclical Characters, physiognomy, astrology and spirit writing, the Chinese nation is virtually unrivalled in the world in terms of the proliferation, rigor and complexity of its fortune telling methods.
早自殷商的用甲骨文卜卦、觀星象、取吉日，乃至於逐漸衍生出繁複的八字批命、面相、紫微斗數、鐵板神算…… 等，中國人問命、算命的方法之多、之嚴謹複雜，為世界其他民族所難比擬。