Bazi: Calculating Your Chinese Birth Chart

What is Bazi?

Bazi, also known as the "Four Pillars of Destiny," is a traditional Chinese system used for astrological character analysis and fortune-telling.

Bazi is a complex and ancient system that involves the analysis of an individual's birth data to determine their destiny and personal characteristics. It is based on the belief that the universe and everything in it is interconnected, and that a person's life path can be understood through the balance and interaction of natural elements.

Bazi consists of four pillars, representing the year pillar, month pillar, day pillar, and hour pillar. Each pillar is composed of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch, making a total of eight characters, hence the name Bazi.

Heavenly Stems

The Heavenly Stems are derived from the Ten Heavenly Stems :

Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui.

Earthly Branches

The Earthly Branches are derived from the Twelve Earthly Branches :

Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai.

Bazi Form

Before you begin, I suggest you write down the chart below. It helps you calculate one by one smoothly.

	Year Pillar	Month Pillar	Day Pillar	Hour Pillar
Heavenly Stems (Tian Gan)	Year‘s Heavenly Stem：	Month’s Heavenly Stem：	Day’s Heavenly Stem：	Hour's Heavenly Stem：
Earthly Branches (Di Zhi)	Year's Earthly Branch：	Month's Earthly Branch：	Day's Earthly Branch：	Hour's Earthly Branch：

Take "March 7, 1993, 7:02 AM" for a example. (Time was already adjusted to the local true solar time,refer to Article “True Solar Time at Birth”)

Upon completing this section, you will be able to fill in the form as shown below.

	Year Pillar	Month Pillar	Day Pillar	Hour Pillar
Heavenly Stems (Tian Gan)	Gui	Yi	Ding	Jia
Earthly Branches (Di Zhi)	You	Mao	Hai	Chen

 

Bazi Calculation Steps

step1: Get True Solar Time at Birth

Obtain the precise time of birth (get the local true solar time corresponding to the year, month, day, and hour) (You can consult on article “True Solar Time at Birth” in Qi Code Blogs)

step2-A(Recommended): Get Bazi Online (Except Hour Pillar)

Using the following website with the Chinese-English translation, you can get your Bazi for the year, month, and daydirectly with Chinese online tools.

Chinese Lunar Calendar: https://wannianrili.bmcx.com/

 【An Chinese-English translation】

• 天干Heavenly Stems(Tian Gan):（甲Jia、乙Yi、丙Bing、丁Ding、戊Wu、己Ji、庚Geng、辛Xin、壬Ren、癸Gui）
• 地支Earthly Branches(Di Zhi):（子Zi、丑Chou、寅Yin、卯Mao、辰Chen、巳Si、午Wu、未Wei、申Shen、酉You、戌Xu、亥Hai）

Up to this point, you have obtained the Bazi for the year, month, and day pillars.

 

step2-B: Get Bazi  Manually (Except Hour Pillar)

If you are in a hurry to know your complete Bazi, you can skip to the section “Hour pillar”.

Year Pillar:

Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches for the Year

Step 1: Obtain the accurate 'Bazi' year

The year is determined by the Start of Spring, which is the dividing line. If the Start of Spring has passed, it is considered the current year; if not, subtract 1 from the current year.

Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches combine to create a sexagenary cycle (See this chart to find the year pillar. If your birth year is not in the 60-year circle, it can be calculated by extrapolation from the figures.)

Here is a quick way to convert a year in the Western calendar into one represented by stem and branch.

Month Pillar:

Month’s Heavenly Stem

Obtain the accurate month, with the start of a solar term being the first day of the new month. For example, from the Start of Spring (2024.02.04)to the Waking of Insects (2024.03.05) is considered the first month, such as 2024.02.04 being the first month.

From the start, including that day （MM/DD）	Midpoint of the period （MM/DD）	Up to the end, excluding that day （MM/DD）	Month Numbers
立春（The Start of Spring）： 0204 or 0205	雨水（Rain Water）： 0218 or 0219	惊蛰（Waking of Insects）： 0305 or 0306	1
惊蛰（Waking of Insects）： 0305 or 0306	春分（Vernal Equinox）： 0320 or 0321	清明（Clear and Bright）： 0404 or 0405	2
清明（Clear and Bright）： 0404 or 0405	谷雨（Grain Rain）： 0419 or 0420	立夏（The Start of Summer）： 0505 or 0506	3
立夏（The Start of Summer）： 0505 or 0506	小满（Grain Full）： 0520 or 0521	芒种（Grain in Ear）：0605 or 0606	4
芒种（Grain in Ear）： 0605 or 0606	夏至（Summer Solstice）：0621 or 0622	小暑（Minor Heat）：0706 or 0707	5
小暑（Minor Heat）：0706 or 0707	大暑（Major Heat）：0722 or 0723	立秋（The Start of Autumn）：0807 or 0808	6
立秋（The Start of Autumn）：0807 or 0808	处暑（Limit of Heat）：0822 or 0823	白露（White Dew）：0907 or 0908	7
白露（White Dew）：0907 or 0908	秋分（Autumn Equinox）：0922 or 0923	寒露（Cold Dew）：1008 or 1009	8
寒露（Cold Dew）：1008 or 1009	霜降（Frost's Descent）： 1023 or 1024	立冬（The Start of Winter）： 1107 or 1108	9
立冬（The Start of Winter）： 1107 or 1108	小雪（Minor Snow）： 1122 or 1123	大雪（Major Snow）： 1206 or 1207	10
大雪（Major Snow）： 1206 or 1207	冬至（Winter Solstice）： 1221 or 1222	小寒（Minor Cold）： 0105 or 0106	11
小寒（Minor Cold）： 0105 or 0106	大寒（Major Cold）： 0120 or 0121	立春（The Start of Spring）： 0204 or 0205	12

Based on the calculated annual stem, find out which character starts the first month.

The table below helps to find the starting Heavenly Stem for the first month, based on the year's Heavenly Stem, and then cycles through the 10 Stems in order.

Year‘s Heavenly Stem	甲/己 Jia/Ji	乙/庚 Yi/Geng	丙/辛 Bing/Xin	丁/壬 Ding/Ren	戊/癸 Wu/Gui
Month’s Heavenly Stem for the First Month (Start of Spring to Waking of Insects)	丙Bing	戊Wu	庚Geng	壬Ren	甲Jia
Circular Order	1.甲（Jia）2.乙（Yi）3.丙（Bing）4.丁（Ding）5.戊（Wu）6.己（Ji）7.庚（Geng）8.辛（Xin）9.壬（Ren）10.癸（Gui）11.甲（Jia）[Cycle Begins]12.乙（Yi）[Cycle Begins]

 

Month’s Earthly Branch

Query Month’s Earthly Branch by month order.

Day Pillar

Year Number Table (1950-1999)
Year	Year Number	Year	Year Number	Year	Year Number	Year	Year Number	Year	Year Number
1950	31	1960	24	1970	16	1980	9	1990	1
1951	36	1961	29	1971	21	1981	14	1991	6
1952	42	1962	34	1972	27	1982	19	1992	12
1953	47	1963	39	1973	32	1983	24	1993	17
1954	52	1964	45	1974	37	1984	30	1994	22
1955	57	1965	50	1975	42	1985	35	1995	27
1956	3	1966	55	1976	48	1986	40	1996	33
1957	8	1967	0	1977	53	1987	45	1997	38
1958	13	1968	6	1978	58	1988	51	1998	43
1959	18	1969	11	1979	3	1989	56	1999	48

 

Year Number Table (2000-2049)
Year	Year Number	Year	Year Number	Year	Year Number	Year	Year Number	Year	Year Number
2000	54	2010	46	2020	39	2030	31	2040	24
2001	59	2011	51	2021	44	2031	36	2041	29
2002	4	2012	57	2022	49	2032	42	2042	34
2003	9	2013	2	2023	54	2033	47	2043	39
2004	15	2014	7	2024	0	2034	52	2044	45
2005	20	2015	12	2025	5	2035	57	2045	50
2006	25	2016	18	2026	10	2036	3	2046	55
2007	30	2017	23	2027	15	2037	8	2047	0
2008	36	2018	28	2028	21	2038	13	2048	6
2009	41	2019	33	2029	26	2039	18	2049	11

 

Month Number Table
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Month Number	6	37	0	31	1	32	2	33	4	34	5	35

 

Use the formula to calculate Day Pillar

【Day's Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Formula】:

Day's Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Sequence Number = Year Number + Month Number + Date (If the sum is greater than 60, subtract 60. For January and February, use the year number of the previous year)

**Example Result** Date: 1997.02.12, since it is February, we take the year number of 1996, which is 40. The month number for February is 37, and the date is 12. Adding 40, 37, and 12 together equals 89. Since 89 is greater than 60, we subtract 60 to get 29. Looking up the table below, the sequence number for 29 is RenChen.

01 JiaZi	11 JiaXu	21 JiaShen	31 JiaWu	41 JiaChen	51 JiaYin
02 YiChou	12 YiHai	22 YiYou	32 YiWei	42 YiSi	52 YiMao
03 BingYin	13 BingZi	23 BingXu	33 BingShen	43 BingWu	53 BingChen
04 DingMao	14 DingChou	24 DingHai	34 DingYou	44 DingWei	54 DingSi
05 WuChen	15 WuYin	25 WuZi	35 WuXu	45 WuShen	55 WuWu
06 JiSi	16 JiMao	26 JiChou	36 JiHai	46 JiYou	56 JiWei
07 GengWu	17 GengChen	27 GengYin	37 GengZi	47 GengXu	57 GengShen
08 XinWei	18 XinSi	28 XinMao	38 XinChou	39 XinHai	58 XinYou
09 RenShen	19 RenWu	29 RenChen	39 RenYin	49 RenZi	59 RenXu
10 GuiYou	20 GuiWei	30 GuiSi	40 GuiMao	50 GuiChou	60 GuiHai

step3: Get Hour Pillar Finally

• Hour’s Earthly Branch

The Earthly Branches correspond to the twelve earthly hours.The following time boundary ranges only include the start time, for example, 11 PM is considered the hour of Zi, not Hai.

23:00-1:00	子时 Zi Hour	11:00-13:00	午时 Wu Hour
1:00-3:00	丑时 Chou Hour	13:00-15:00	未时 Wei Hour
3:00-5:00	寅时 Yin Hour	15:00-17:00	申时 Shen Hour
5:00-7:00	卯时 Mao Hour	17:00-19:00	酉时 You Hour
7:00-9:00	辰时 Chen Hour	19:00-21:00	戌时 Xu Hour
9:00-11:00	巳时 Si Hour	21:00-23:00	亥时 Hai Hour

•  Hour’s Heavenly Stems

Si	Chen	Mao	Yin	Chou	Zi
9:00- 11:00	7:00- 9:00	5:00- 7:00	3:00- 5:00	1:00- 3:00	23:00- 1:00	Day’s Heavenly Stems
JiSi	WuChen	DingMao	BingYin	YiChou	JiaZi	Jia、Ji
XinSi	GengChen	JiMao	WuYin	DingChou	BingZi	Yi、Geng
GuiSi	RenChen	XinMao	GengYin	JiChou	WuZi	Bing、Xin
YiSi	JiaChen	GuiMao	RenYin	XinChou	GengZi	Ding、Ren
DingSi	BingChen	YiMao	JiaYin	GuiChou	RenZi	Wu、Gui

 

Hai	Xu	You	Shen	Wei	Wu
21:00- 23:00	19:00- 21:00	17:00- 19:00	15:00- 17:00	13:00- 15:00	11:00- 13:00	Day’s Heavenly Stems
YiHai	JiaXu	GuiYou	RenShen	XinWei	GengWu	Jia、Ji
DingHai	BingXu	YiYou	JiaShen	GuiWei	RenWu	Yi、Geng
JiHai	WuXu	DingYou	BingShen	YiWei	JiaWu	Bing、Xin
XinHai	GengXu	JiYou	WuShen	DingWei	BingWu	Ding、Ren
GuiHai	RenXu	XinYou	GengShen	JiWei	WuWu	Wu、Gui

 **Example Result** March 7, 1993, 7:02 AM. Previously, it was determined that the Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar is Ding. Therefore, by consulting the above table, the corresponding Day Pillar for this example is JiaChen.

Congratulations on obtaining your Bazi! You can use your Bazi to do many more interesting things.

	Year Pillar	Month Pillar	Day Pillar	Hour Pillar
Heavenly Stems (Tian Gan)	Gui	Yi	Ding	Jia
Earthly Branches (Di Zhi)	You	Mao	Hai	Chen