How to use Chinese calendar

Custom version

In contrast to the European calendar, the Chinese calendar provides not only for day count, but also for description of quality characteristics. Each coming day and hour (as well as month and year) bring us specific energy that favors one matter and encumbers the other. This resembles natural phenomena - no one would go sunbathing in the rain or walk in the desert on a hot midday. The Chinese have known this feature of time for a long time already and they always select appropriate time and date for important events using Tong Shu, a special Almanac indicating characteristics of each day and hour.

There are two versions of Chinese Calendar and Tong Shu Almanac on our website – custom and professional versions. Choose option “Professional version” to see the extended version of the calendar.

The custom version of the calendar does not have any hieroglyphs that can scare beginners. On the month page you can see a date, number of lunar day, green and red icons showing different activities, which are favorable or unfavorable to do on that particular day. You can choose text mode instead of icons mode by disabling “Show icons”.

You can also see the name of Day Officers (Jian Chu in Chinese). There are 12 Day Officers (or Spirits) and you can use them while choosing an auspicious day for a particular activity.

Such characteristics as Clash or Sha also tell us about the quality of energy brought by the day. As a rule, Clash and Sha days are not used for very important occasions such as wedding or business startup.

Inauspicious effects usually ”negate” all the favorable. If the Day Officer favors medical procedures, but at the same time the day brings Sha of misfortune – one should not appoint a visit to the doctor on such a day.

You probably know the year of your birth according to the eastern horoscope (if you do not know this yet, you can read a blog post about it). There are specific days that do not fit you personally. These days are also marked in our Almanac. “Unsuitable for Ox” - means that people born in the year of Ox should avoid making important appointments on these days.

You can either read description of days and hours or just look at the icons in order to do important things in the most favorable time! Important matters are considered to be the following: marriage proposal, wedding, relocation, purchase of valuables, negotiations, signing contracts, employment, business opening, start of repairs or construction, foundation laying, start of diet, travel, business trip, commencing a new project, initiation of medical treatment or search of a doctor, planning, start of studies, solving legal issues and court cases, debt repayment, applying for a loan, solving financial issues.

If you see a green icon indicating some activity – this is great, you can handle this matter in the best way. Red icon means that it is better not to plan this activity, since problems of different nature may appear. If you did not find the required icon in the day description – the situation is neutral, you can plan this activity, but its implementation is unlikely to bring any special bonuses.

Detailed day description can be viewed on a separate page, you can navigate by clicking on the day. You can see for which signs of eastern horoscope the day is favorable (by year of birth) and also Flying Stars of the year and month.

Hour selection is no less important than choosing a day. There are not so many ideal hours, so you should be guided by the action you need to do and choose appropriate hours for this particular action.

You will notice that the duration of hour interval is indicated next to its description. The Chinese use 2-hour intervals, which may be somewhat unusual for the Europeans. If you want to apply the information about hours correctly, you should adjust calendar for the local solar time. You can easily do this by ticking the box “Local time” at the top of the page and select your city from the list. If you live in a very small town - choose the nearest town and click “Apply”. Now you will see description of hours for your local area.

You can customize the calendar layout according to your needs in the tab “Show / Hide”.

 

Professional version

Online Chinese calendar (professional layout) shows each date of the European calendar in the form of Chinese hieroglyphs, including Xuan Kong Da Gua element and period, Nai Yin and Sha of directions for each hour, day, month and year from 1900 through 2050. The calendar contains essential data used by professional consultants for date selection.

Tong Shu almanac has been designed on the basis of Day Officer (Jian Chu), Three Sha (San Sha), clashes (destroyers), lunar mansions, days without wealth, some of BaZi spirits and demons (symbolic stars) and other interactions of heavenly stems and earthly branches. Almanac also shows seasonal aspects such as loss, exhaustion, separators.

The month page includes Flying Stars and Qi Men Dun Jia charts of months and year. The names and beginning of 24 seasons of the Chinese calendar are also displayed. The list of favorable and unfavorable activities for each day can be displayed as icons or text (optional). Calendar layout can be easily configured using the tab “Show / Hide”. The website shows local solar time in the particular city you chose, which is very convenient for practical use. To enable this option check “Local time” and select the required city from the list.

The day page shows Flying Stars chart of the month and year as well as Qi Men Dun Jia chart for the day. You can see not only each day, but also each hour with all its characteristics by selecting options of brief or full hour description. Direct clashes (red frame) and indirect clashes (grey field) are marked in BaZi of each hour. The calendar also shows Xuan Kong Da Gua, Nai Yin, symbolic stars and Sha of directions thus making it easier to select dates for example by Xuan Kong Da Gua. You can also customize display of data options depending on the method you are using.

Every hour also corresponds with Qi Men Dun Jia chart. Next to the chart there is a button that allows you to switch to Qi Men Dun Jia Navigator where the chart is applied to the selected location on Google or Yandex maps.