On the face of it
By Mohinder Singh

FACES tell all. We talk of kind and evil faces, weak chins, generous lips, mean mouths, intelligent foreheads, seductive eyes.

Yet only the Chinese have made a thorough study of the art of face-reading. They call it Siang Mien. And claim that through Siang Mien you can read the character of anyone you meet, and tell whether their fortune will be good or bad.

Face-reading has been important in China for more than 2,000 years. Anyone who has been among the Chinese will have noticed the Chinese habit of staring. When the Chinese stare, it is your character that is being assessed.

According to Siang Mien, some of the luckiest and most desirable features of a face are high forehead, straight nose with plump, fleshy nostrils, thick ears with big lobes, rounded chin, and a mole near the top of the ears. And nothing, not even plastic surgery, can alter the character and fortune revealed in one’s face.

Siang Mien encompasses voluminous studies, and it’s hard to do justice to its complexities in a short article. However a brief introduction is attempted.

Some eleven types of face shapes have been identified: Moon face, Mountain face, Earth face, Iron face, Tree face, Jade face, Wall face, Fire face, Bucket face, King face, and Irregular face. Many faces are easily recognisable as fitting one of the types. But then many others are a combination of two or three shapes. Combination faces take some of the qualities — good and bad — of each shape.

Moon face people prefer mental to physical activities, and many are lazy. They have a tendency to be overweight. Some are greedy, too. Tree and Jade faces give an impression of length rather than width (with the Jade face wider in the middle and narrower at the top and bottom. Both these people are naturally inclined to be assertive, even belligerent. While Tree people are are inventive and resourceful, Jade people happen to be self-made and able to overcome setback.

Iron faces are square; Winston Churchill a prime example. These people weigh matters up before taking action, but once their minds are made up they do their best to see the project through. Iron faces have many of the qualities of which top statesmen and leaders are made.

Earth face is marked by wide forehead, wide cheeks bones, and a wider, square jaw, while the Mountain face has the same features but with a narrower forehead.

The Fire face has a wide forehead and high cheekbones. It tapers to a narrow jaw and a long, thinnish chin. These people (such as Queen Elizabeth 1) are bright, sensitive, and ambitious.

The Wall face is extremely narrow from the hairline to the jaw and chin, but also wide. Siang Mien uncovers a tendency in Wall people to be neurotic, and difficult as marriage partners. The Bucket face somewhat resembles the Fire face, but is broader and the chin and jaw are wider. Most Bucket people are kind. They are likely to be proud, and to have an awareness of their own importance.

The King face is very bony, with prominent cheekbones and jaw. This is the face of a leader. These people display natural militancy and toughness.

The Irregular face has some facial irregularity. And such irregularities are deemed a sign of mediocrity and an awareness of one’s own limitations.

The forehead

To be well endowed with faculty for logic, memory and intuition, one needs a well shaped forehead and good eyebrows. A well-shaped forehead is smooth, rounded, and also wide and deep, that is, wide across the forehead and from the hairline to the eyebrows. Siang Mien defines good eyebrows as those which are fairly long, evenly arranged arched and tapering to a point. A hairline which begins well back is a further pointer to intelligence.

A forehead that is narrow and shallow in depth reveals a disorganised mind and untidy thinking.

No shame if a young person’s hair turns white. Siang Mien associates baldness with sensuality.

The eyes

You cannot hide behind your eyes, only behind sunglasses. For it is the eyes that tell the world if you are powerful or trustworthy.

Shifty look indicates shyness. And shyness, according to Siang Mien, is linked to selfishness. Blinking a lot is often a symptom of mental instability. Someone with regularly sleepy eyes is unlikely to be successful in personal relations, or in a career.

The Good Look eyes are clear, shiny and sparkling. And powerful eyes are able to assess other people and situations more accurately than those whose eyes are submissive or weak or watery.

As to the colour of eyes, black is beautiful. Dark brown eyes are superior to light brown; they signify loyalty to family. Light brown eyes are associated with ability to withdraw unscathed from unhappy and unsuccessful relationships.

The whites of an eye impart valuable information to those who understand Siang Mien. Most eyes have two areas of white; to the left and right of the iris. But eyes with three or four areas of white tell most, such as these people being prone to accidents.

The nose

It is the nose that governs wealth. And the best nose for money is one that is wide at the top, moderately large and has a rounded tip supported by fleshy sides. The higher the arch of the nose, the more good fortune can be expected. Plump nose indicates worldly wealth. Bumpy noses can spell financial worries.

Straight noses are associated with good thinking. Long nose are indicative of stubbornness and self-pride, even selfishness. A short nose is linked to decline of fortune around middle age. Flat noses presage personal problems. Thin nostrils are indicative of loneliness in old age.

The mouth

In Siang Mien, the best mouth is large. It has a clear distinct shape with corners that slope up. Each lip should be a quarter of an inch wide, and where the lips meet, there should be straight, horizontal line. The straighter the horizontal line, the more a person can be expected to keep promises.

Anyone with the best mouth can expect a reasonable standard of living. And cope better with adversity than someone with a small mouth. Only women with small mouths stay better satisfied with love-making than those with bigger mouths. A thick upper than lower lip is a sign of deviousness, while a thicker lower lip can mean difficulties in inspiring trust. Thick-lipped people are more likely to be sensual and emotional than whose lips are thin.

The ears

For good fortune the ears should be entirely between two parallel lines drawn through the eyebrows and the tip of the nose.

Ears should be flat, indicative of wellbeing and stable family relationships. Besides being flat, the best ears are also round — denoting health and kindness. Thick ears are more desirable than thin ears; thick ears contribute to good fortune, while thin ones are associated with physical weakness and periods of indifferent health.

Protruding ears (Mahatma Gandhi a prime example) indicate that their owners need to draw on inner reserves of strength and ability to get on in life.

If there is a heavy growth of hair in the ear that is disproportionate to the rest of the body, this communicates to the Siang Mien observer that these people waste their talent and dissipate their energies.

The chin

A good chin is smoothly curving, round, and forming part of a smooth, strong jaw. Together these two features symbolise a nice comfortable old age.

A square chin isn’t inferior either. It, too, represents power plus an additional qualification of leadership skills.

The most powerful chins are those which stick out. The weakest are those which recede. According to Siang Mien observations, those with receding chins are less ambitious; they don’t stretch themselves to their mental or physical limits.

A surprisingly large number of people have a slit in their chin (Humphrey Bogart had one). Its main significance is that the owner enjoys praise, some even craving the spotlight.

Siang Mien again has a good deal to say on other facial features, such as cheekbones, eyebrows, eyelashes, lines and bags under the eyes, beards, whiskers, even moles and their significance at particular places on the face.