Origin 1465 to 1620
The ears are the fifth of the five officers, wu guan, of mian xiang, traditionally called the Collector Officer, cai ting guan, or the officer of gathering and listening. They are read as the record of early childhood, roughly the first fourteen years of life, and of a person's inherited wisdom and constitution. Large, thick, well formed ears set high on the head with a full lobe are read as a sign of a fortunate, well provided childhood and long life, while small, thin or low set ears are read as a caution about a harder start in life. As with the rest of mian xiang, this is a traditional interpretive practice, not a finding of medical science.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period Origin PeriodFixed in its present form by the Shenxiang quanbian, the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644) compilation Livia Kohn describes as the most complete and most widely available textbook of Chinese physiognomy, though face reading as a practice in China is attested centuries earlier. 1 Attributed Author / CompilerThe five officers are part of the same classical apparatus set out in the Shenxiang quanbian, which Livia Kohn describes as principally concerned with the head and the hands, the parts of the body thought to reveal the most about a person, dated to the Ming dynasty, between 1465 and 1620. 1 Origin of the NameGuan, officer, is the term shared by all five facial features in this scheme, casting each as a court official reporting on a different domain of the person's character and fortune, distinct from the palace metaphor used for the twelve areas that are not among the five officers. 1 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryLargely abandoned as a comparative category 1 Learn More
The Officer Read for a Life Not Yet Lived
The ears, the fifth and last of the five officers, carry the name Collector Officer, cai ting guan, the officer of gathering and listening, and they are read for a period of life none of the other four officers or twelve palaces claims as directly, early childhood, roughly the first fourteen years, before a person has had the chance to build the career, marriage or accumulated fortune most of the system's other readings assess. Reading the ears is therefore reading backward toward inheritance and constitution rather than forward toward achievement, closer in spirit to the Upper Court's own claim about early life than to most of the officer readings, which more often assess present character or capacity.
Large, thick, well formed ears set high on the head with a full lobe are read as a sign of a fortunate, well provided childhood and long life, while small, thin or low set ears are read as a caution about a harder start in life. The ears' position at the very edge of the face, furthest from the central cluster of nose, eyes and mouth the other officers occupy, matches their reading of a life stage furthest from the present moment a reading typically happens, childhood already behind an adult subject by the time anyone examines their face.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
One of the Five Officers (wuguan), the facial features read as ministers overseeing a domain of fortune in Chinese physiognomy.
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