How It Works
This calculator uses True Solar Time — not clock time — to determine your Four Pillars. For births in western China (Chengdu, Lhasa, Urumqi), the correction can exceed one hour, which is enough to change your hour pillar or even your day pillar.
Accuracy Features
- 立春 (Start of Spring) year boundary: Your BaZi year changes at the Start of Spring (~Feb 4), not January 1st
- Solar term month boundaries: BaZi months follow the 24 Solar Terms (節氣), not the lunar calendar
- True Solar Time: Clock time is corrected for your birth longitude and the Equation of Time
- Early Zi method (早子法): If born between 23:00–midnight, the day pillar advances to the next day
Five Phases Strength
The strength calculation uses the Pan Aimin (潘爱民) algorithm — a quantitative method that accounts for seasonal variation in each element’s strength. The coefficient tables weight each Heavenly Stem and hidden Earthly Branch stem differently based on the birth month.
Reading Your Chart
- Day Master (日主): The Heavenly Stem of your Day Pillar — this represents you
- Strong (身强): Your element’s “same-type” energy exceeds “different-type” by more than 1.0
- Weak (身弱): Different-type exceeds same-type by more than 1.0
- Balanced (中和): The difference is within ±1.0 — the most fortunate configuration