Yuan Tiangang

Yuan Tiangang was a native of Chengdu, Yizhou Prefecture, active during the late Sui and early Tang dynasties. He mastered both physiognomy and astronomical-calendrical science, and tradition holds he was the son of Yuan Shouyi, a magistrate of Ziguan County under Emperor Wen of Sui. His reputation as a physiognomist spread far and wide: he accurately foretold the fates of eminent officials such as Du Yan and Wang Gui, and famously examined the infant Wu Zetian—later Empress Regnant—declaring her to possess 'dragon pupils and phoenix neck', destined to rule all under heaven—a prophecy recorded in the Old Book of Tang. Emperor Taizong of Tang summoned him to the capital, where he collaborated with Li Chunfeng on celestial observations; legend credits the two with jointly composing the prophetic Classic of Pushing the Back, which foretold the course of dynastic fortune. In his later years, Yuan retired to Panlong Mountain in Langzhong, built a Daoist observatory for cultivation, and was buried beside the Tiangong Temple. Practitioners of physiognomy and prognostication thereafter venerated him as their founding patriarch.