Authorities in northern China have banned kindergartens from performing palm-reading tests — a practice deeply embedded in Chinese culture and tradition, and promoted as a method for determining a child's intelligence and academic potential.

The official Xinhua news agency quotes an education chief in Shanxi province as saying measures have been taken to “criticize” three kindergartens that offered palm reading for $190 per child.

Promoters have touted the tests, saying they can reveal a child's aptitude for music, mathematics and languages. But Xinhua says some critics have questioned the high cost of the testing, while others debate whether the methods are based on science or superstition.

An education specialist with the Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences (Zhao Yulin) called the testing pseudo-science that could be misleading.

Xinhua says authorities were also investigating whether the privately-run kindergartens had been deceived by the palm reading company.