When did palm reading begin?

The craft of palm reading appeared quite early, probably shortly after the emergence and prosperity of human civilization. Moreover, the origin of palm reading is not single. Generally speaking, it originated in Europe, India and China.

As early as when people were still using murals to describe history and daily life, palm reading as a divination technique had become popular. According to the relics in various parts of India, the ancient records left in murals and the word-of-mouth spread of Brahmanism, we can know that palm reading was very popular in ancient India. When gypsies travel in the Middle East and Europe, in order to raise funds, they will not only sell goods and acrobatic performances, but also help people with divination. Tarot cards are one of the main methods, while palm reading is another less commonly used method.

In China, the origin of palm reading is also very early. Many people think that the Book of Changes has clearly given people the method of divination according to palm reading. According to predecessors' works and experience, Xu Fu of the Western Han Dynasty wrote a book about palm reading, which can be said to be the most complete and organized book about palm reading at that time and all along. But in the end, palm reading was not taken out as a kind of physiognomy alone, but was classified as a branch of human physiognomy.

But palm reading, like other fortune-telling methods, is just metaphysics. The emergence of divination and fortune telling has its specific social background, but it has no scientific basis at all. Most palm readers are liars, and some of them are accurate, but they are well informed, can read words and have a glib tongue.