Divination in Modern Society: Clutching at Straws or a New Beginning?

(Minghui.org) China faces a dilemma of huge proportions. For millennia, Chinese culture has acknowledged a deep connection with the divine, from the Yellow Emperor, Laozi, and the legendary Monkey King. However, this tradition was shattered when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949. Temples were demolished, and monks and nuns of many religious traditions were forced to return to secular life.

In recent years, however, there has been a surge in divination, the practice of foretelling events or gaining knowledge by interpreting omens or using supernatural powers. From high officials to ordinary citizens, more and more people are turning to divination. Unlike traditional spiritual practices of improving oneself based on divine teachings, many people nowadays are trying to gain fortune or predict their fate through divination. Faced with a sluggish economy and high unemployment rate in China, the younger generations even turn to online divination, attempting to gain some understandings or find a quick fix to their problems.

What implications does this have for Chinese society? Can we truly rely on such desperate transactional approaches to the divine—akin to ordering fast food—for genuine guidance?

Digitized Divination?

According to the 21st Century Business Herald, the AI-powered psychological consumer market in China was estimated to be 3.866 billion yuan (or $559.6 million) in 2025. Following that trend, the number could reach 59.5 billion yuan (or $8.6 billion) by 2028. Cyber divination and AI-powered fortune telling have been packaged into standardized products with pay-per-use or annual subscription options available. It is said that different algorithms are used for fortune, long-term relationships, or job seeking.

Many people still follow the conventional way—but their mindset remains the same. Yonghe Temple in Beijing, for example, had about 60,000 visitors per day back in 2023. There is a rumor that worshiping in this temple helps land job offers. Among the visitors to Yonghe Temple, more than half are millennials (Gen X) and Gen Z. Throughout the country, the temple economy is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan (or $14 million) in 2026.

But, does the divine truly favor cyber divination subscribers or those who simply kowtow to Buddha statues and burn incense?

Traditional Faith

Across cultures, there was a belief that human beings were originally from high levels, and that being a good person would help one to return to one’s divine place.

In the Bible, Satan argued that Job loved God only because of his many blessings. So as a test, Job was made to lose all his livestock, his servants, his children, and even his health. However, throughout his tribulations, Job remained righteous and bore no resentment to God: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job thus passed the test.

Being a good person should be unconditional, and through tests and tribulations, our true character is revealed or improved. And our choices do make a difference, as illustrated in the following story from ancient China.

Qin Hui, a high official in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), was notoriously wicked and killed upright generals including Yue Fei. Once, he asked Lai Buyi, a renowned feng shui master, to choose a graveyard so that his offspring would be prosperous. Lai had no choice but to follow his orders. Still, Lai stood before the auspicious site and vowed, “There is no logic if this place is not prosperous, but there is no heavenly law if this place is prosperous [for the Qin family].”

Qin was pleased and moved his ancestral tomb to this location. One night, there was a torrential rainstorm with strong winds, which changed the terrain and turned the location into an area of bad energy. According to Yu Shi Ming Yan (Instruction Stories to Enlighten the World), Qin and his wife, along with his senior officials, continued to suffer in the netherworld for their sins.

The ancient sage Laozi said, “The divine has no favoritism, and always helps those with virtue.”

A Tree Without Roots

But this traditional understanding was largely lost during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and in the CCP’s many other political campaigns. In 1966, within just one month, student leader Tan Houlan and his fellow Red Guards destroyed over 6,000 cultural relics, 2,700 ancient books, 900 rolls of calligraphy and paintings, and 1,000 stone tablets. Among them were more than 70 treasures under first-class national protection, and 1,000 rare books. They even demolished Confucian Temples and desecrated the sage’s tomb.

Ironically, decades later, the CCP has now turned historic temples into commercial venues. For example, with 4.5 million visitors annually, ticket sales at Shaolin Temple amount to over 300 million yuan a year. Along with martial arts, souvenir products, live streaming, and intellectual property collaborations, the enterprise generates over one billion yuan (or $146 million) a year. Shi Yongxin, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, is also a representative of the National People’s Congress (NPC)

However, without a strong cultural foundation, the CCP’s commercial activities can never offer any true spiritual guidance. Nonetheless, the new boom in the pursuit of faith demonstrates that people are still searching for the truth and are striving to understand who we are and where we originally come from.