There are 3 main themes of Chinese face reading that provides readers with reference points to decipher what certain facial features mean in terms of a person’s life aspects.
The shape of the face with regards to the 5 elements, the 100 points of age, and the 12 palaces.
The 12 palaces are associated with specific life aspects that offers a peak into what is going on in a person’s life.
For example, if a vertical line appears at the life palace, it is an indication of singlehood. Those who have yet to get married might find it difficult to find a long term partner in life.
Unlike the 100 age markers that can be differentiated by gender, this system works with a format that applies to both male and female.
As a picture tells a thousand words, below is an illustration of where the 12 palaces of Chinese face reading that govern life aspects are.
1) Life palace (命宮)
The life palace is located in the space between the eyebrows, and is the most important palace in face reading because it tells the general trajectory of ups and downs a person is experiencing in a certain period of time.
It also plays a role in determining the weight that other facial features in other palaces say about a person.
For example, even though a person’s marriage palace might indicate a good marriage, an afflicted life palace would mean that the relationship is not as positive as before, or that there is still a long of room for improvement.
A broad space within this area is usually more desirable than a tight space.
2) Career palace (官祿宮)
The career palace spans the vertical space along the central forehead.
As the name suggest, it is linked to an individual’s career or entrepreneurial journey. It is definitely not a place you want wrinkles to form as you are chasing dreams.
For those who are lost and unsure of which path to move forward with at a crossroad, the career palace can provide insight into which would be a more fruitful path.
Interestingly, with reference to the 100 age spots, this facial area covers the ages where one is approaching his or her peak physique.
Generally, a high forehead results in a larger career palace. Which is favorable to career pursuits.
So a receding hairline might not so all bad news after all.
3) Wealth palace (財帛宮)
It is often jokingly said that if you want to know how rich a person is, just look at how big his nose is.
There is some truth in that. This line of thought originate from this palace in face reading.
A fleshy dome at the nose tip is an indicator of wealth accumulation. And the wider the nostrils, the more avenues of income a person would enjoy.
However, when the nostril holes can be observed from a frontal face view, it is said that there is wealth leaking tendencies. Those whose nostrils cannot be seen from the front would be better able to protect their wealth from leakage.
4) Assets palace (田宅宮)
This face palace is represented by the space between the eyebrows and the eyes. It basically takes up the upper eyelids, and a little bit more up until the brows.
The assets palace refers to real property, personal property, and essentially things that have a store of value. As such, it is also sometimes called the property palace.
In ancient times, this is mostly represented by farms, fields and livestock as agriculture and farming was the way of life.
The features of this palace is also said to reveal the type of house that the person is most suited to live in.
5) Sickness palace (疾厄宮)
The sickness palace is reflected at the frontal space at the nose bridge. As the name suggest this is not a facial area you want to have problems with.
Take note that features that one is born with at this area does not necessarily influence life. But things that appear with time is what you should be alarmed with.
This palace is also sometimes referred to as the health palace. But the name itself literally translates to illness and disease.
People with laughter lines that appear in this area tend to have recurring health ailments that never seem to go away.
6) Romance palace (妻妾宮)
If we are to only look at the “correct” things to say, this temple area can be referred to as the marriage palace.
But the Chinese name actually refers to “wife and concubine”. This is why this area is called the romance palace instead.
And as the label implies, it is linked to romance, relationships and lust.
During ancient times, it is generally accepted for men to have a wife and several concubines. Especially for people of stature. What happens to this palace would reflect what’s in store for the individual.
Not surprising, this romance palace is mostly applicable to men.
Moles in this area can mean a vulnerability to scandals.
7) Children palace (子女宮)
The eyebags area directly under the eyes is what’s known as the children palace.
This space indicates what’s going on with your children and how’s the relationship going with them.
Facial lines running across this area indicates a feisty relationship with the kids, who are possibly lacking in filial piety.
8) Servant palace (奴僕宮)
The servant palace is associated with people of assistance, hired help, domestic helper, caregiver, family and friends. And basically any persons who would provide help in times of need.
This palace is at the lower cheek area on both sides of the mouth to the chin and jawline area.
If you are a business owner for example, wrinkles across this area patches can mean having incompetent employee around you.
9) Parents palace (父母宮)
This palace is situation on either side of the central forehead. It is scientifically referred to as the middle forehead or lateral forehead. It can extend all the way up to the hairline.
The left patch represents the father and the right patch refers to the mother. They can also be referred to as the sun horn (日角) and moon horn (月角) respectively.
What appears in these areas show an indication of the relationship nature between the individual and his/her parents.
10) Siblings palace (兄弟宮)
The siblings palace sits on the eyebrows area.
It represents the relationship you have with your brothers and sisters. They can also tell attributes of the siblings.
For example, when the eyebrows above the left eye have strands that grow in opposite directions, it is indicative of a confrontational relationship with brothers.
More about eyebrows are discussed here.
11) Travel palace (遷移宫)
This palace indicates how much of a positive or negative impact travel can make on a person’s life.
A good palace means that a person would find success with migration, or that major achievements can be attained with travelling.
Conversely, a low quality palace means that a person might meet more failures than success with his or her travels.
If you are considering an overseas posting, then this is the palace that would be of particular interest.
12) Blessings palace (福德宫)
This palace located at the space directly above the eyebrows is associated with blessings and virtue. It is also sometimes known as the fortune palace.
It indicates an individual’s personal values and outlook on life.
Those with protruding bones in these areas can be stubborn and opinionated. It would be hard to convince them to change their minds on something.