Growing up in southeastern China, Gigi Y. remembers paying close attention to her horoscope forecasts while growing up in southeastern China. She found them “very accurate” in describing her thoughts and feelings.
“Star signs helped me understand others better, which is something I appreciate as someone with a sensitive personality,” said Gigi. CT agreed to only use her nickname and initial of her last name due to the sensitivities around discussing the topic in the church.
Her parents brought her to fortunetellers several times—her mother, especially, wanted to better chart out her future.
“You [will] move somewhere far away in the south,” she remembers one of the fortunetellers saying. The man you will marry will die in middle age, another said.
In 2014, she and her husband emigrated from China to Australia so their two daughters could attend school there. It was in Melbourne that Gigi started attending church and became a Christian.
In 2021, her husband died suddenly at the age of 48. Amid her grief, she felt perplexed. “Till this day, I can’t quite explain why those fortunetellers’ words appeared to have come true,” she said.
The predictions she received about her husband all those years ago made her question God. But as she wrestled with losing her spouse, she found herself talking to God about her struggles more honestly.
“God opened my eyes to see how he’s been using all that has happened to draw [me] closer to him … to trust that he is the one in control,” she said.
Gigi no longer believes in seeking out fortunetellers or putting stock in their pronouncements. Paraphrasing Deuteronomy 18:9–11, she said, “God says when we come into his land, there should not be any among us who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens. God does not delight in these things.”
Still, she recognizes the allure these practices offer and the reasons Chinese people have long had a fascination with them. Astrology, for instance, was used in ancient China as a forecast for harvest, war, and other significant events. People still turn to fortunetellers for guidance, comfort, and control over their lives today, especially when confronted with challenges such as economic downturns or personal uncertainty.
Several Chinese Christians with whom Christianity Today spoke noted that they and their peers frequently discuss topics like horoscopes and palm reading. They often do so purely out of curiosity, stressing that they do not attach any religious significance to these practices.
But Christian leaders in and from China warn Christians against seeking fortunetellers or dabbling in other mystical experiences to gain control over their destiny. At the same time, leaders are optimistic that this search for transcendence and meaning may lead more Chinese people to encounter Jesus.
Despite the Communist Party’s tight control on all forms of religion, a sluggish economy and stubbornly high unemployment in China have spurred a revival of Chinese divination practices in recent years.
Astrology and geomancy (also known as feng shui) are becoming increasingly influential over many aspects of individual and communal life in China, whether in making personal decisions about one’s career and marriage or designing a building to encourage prosperity and harmony.
Fortunetelling bars where the clinking of glasses can be heard alongside the shaking of bamboo fortunetelling sticks known as qiuqian, have popped up across the country. The querent shakes the sticks, which are inscribed with text or numbers, in a cylinder until a single stick falls out. The number on that stick will correspond to one of the written “oracles” pasted around the room.
The rise of artificial intelligence has also spurred renewed fascination in the spiritual world. Today, apps offer horoscopes, tarot cards, and palm readings so people can get their fortunes told almost instantly on their phones.
Cece, a Chinese astrology app, had more than 15 million downloads on the Apple app store as of early 2025, according to research firm Sensor Tower. People have also used DeepSeek, the Chinese counterpart to ChatGPT, to analyze their fates, and they share the chatbot’s readings on social media.
The COVID-19 pandemic drove many young Chinese locals to abandon the government’s atheist doctrine and seek out spiritual experiences, said a Beijing-based pastor who asked not to be named as he leads a house church unauthorized by the Chinese authorities.
The pandemic exposed the limitations of science as researchers scrambled to identify the causes and remedies of the coronavirus, he said. China’s stringent “zero-COVID” policies also resulted in economic and social pain, while prolonged lockdowns often led to emotional stress. All these triggered a rare public outpouring of anger.
Post-pandemic, China’s youth unemployment rate hit a record 21 percent in 2023 and dipped to 17 percent at the end of last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
“People feel helpless and stuck,” the pastor said. “What they’d put their hopes on have failed to bring them where they desire to be in life.”
Within the Chinese diaspora, however, seeking out fortunetellers may stem from curiosity rather than anger and frustration. Some consider such practices a fun or harmless way to look into the future.
Horoscopes are a frequent topic of discussion during youth fellowship sessions at his Mandarin-speaking Baptist church in Los Angeles, pastor Daode Chen said.
“When someone mentions [a person’s] birth month, another will instantly interpret their star sign. … It has become a big part of contemporary youth culture,” said Chen, who grew up in China’s southeast.
While people traditionally sought out fortunetellers in person, technology has made these services readily available online. Apart from astrology apps, horoscope influencers who offer advice according to one’s star sign have also attracted millions of followers on Chinese social media.
The young Chinese people whom Chen has encountered in recent years, whether Christian or not, generally “accept the existence of a transcendent deity” despite growing up in a deeply atheist society. Surveys have found that adults in China hold similar views: About a quarter burn incense to worship deities at least a few times a year, and nearly half believe in feng shui.
The Beijing house church pastor urges Chinese Christians to turn away from false gods. Citing Ephesians 2:2–5, he encourages believers to stop “following the prince of the air [and] trust and obey the omnipotent God who has made us alive together with Christ.”
Yet he also hopes an increased enthusiasm toward discovering one’s fortunes will spur greater interest in Christianity in China. “I have observed more young people, especially undergraduates, visiting our church since 2023 after the dust had somewhat settled from the pandemic,” he said.
Chen, who has interacted with many international students from mainland China, observed that most of them no longer tend to dismiss Christian beliefs as “superstition, ignorance, or unscientific.”
“As they are increasingly exposed to cultures different to their own both at home and abroad, young people today have grown to embrace diverse perspectives,” Chen said. “They are less likely to view the church as taboo and may visit for various reasons. Some young people are particularly eager to make friends.”
In Chen’s view, a growing openness toward faith may mean people in or from China will be less likely to reject Christianity outright. “I won’t be blindly optimistic that a growing number of people coming through church doors will drive a Christian revival, but I do see it as an opportunity for the church,” he said.
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