Kau chim

Kau chim or kau cim, also known as lottery poetry (), is a fortune telling practice that originated in China in which a person poses questions and interprets answers from flat sticks inscribed with text or numerals. The practice is often performed in a Taoist or Buddhist temple in front of an altar. Kau chim is often referred to as chien tung or Chinese fortune sticks by westerners. In the US, a version has been sold since 1915 under the name chi chi sticks. Kau chim is also sometimes known as "The Oracle of Kuan Yin" in Buddhist traditions, a reference to the bodhisattva Kuan Yin. It is widely available in Thai temples, known as siam si (เซียมซี). The similar practice is also found in Japan, named O-mikuji. Chim bucket (): A long cylindrical bamboo cup or tube. Kau shim sticks (): The flat sticks which are stored in the tube. Generally made of bamboo, they resemble wide, flat incense sticks, and are often painted red at one end. A single number, both in Arabic numerals and in Chinese characters, is inscribed on each stick. Each stick has a different number on it, and no two are alike. There are usually a total of 100 sticks in the cup, although the chi chi Sticks variation sold in the US for fortune telling has only 78 sticks. 100 written oracle outcomes (or 78, for the Chi Chi sticks variation). A German, Werner Banck, has classified the contents of 420 sets into 24 categories and 160 sub-categories. The practice of kau chim interpretation dates back to the Jin dynasty, according to the Jade Box Records, an ancient Chinese book on date selection, written by the famous Taoist monk Xu Xun in the 3rd century AD. Despite the Cultural Revolution in mainland China during the 1960s and 1970s, lottery poetry still persists today in temples in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. Most Taoist temples have lottery poetry to provide religious guidance for believers. The prediction begins with the cup storing a number of the sticks.