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Changing fortunes for temple soothsayers

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Want to know your fortune using divination sticks according to ancient Taoist principles? One of Hong Kong's most famous temples has just the app.

A new smartphone application being tested by the Wong Tai Sin Temple allows people to learn their futures by keying the number printed on a divination stick into their iPhone.

But believers still have to visit the temple to shake the stick out of a bamboo canister.

The app even allows users to send the result to friends and family.

But some of the temple's 160 soothsayers say a computer programme will never be able to replace the skills they have spent years mastering.

'Two people can get the same stick but it would mean different things to them,' said one. 'You cannot get a correct interpretation by simply reading the scripture from the divination stick.

'We soothsayers take into account the year of their birth, what day it is and what the weather is like that day. We have studied for many years in order to qualify to take on this role. That cannot be replaced by a machine.'

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