Free BaZi Calculator

A BaZi chart encodes a birth moment as four pillars — year, month, day and hour — each made of a heavenly stem and an earthly branch. The calculator takes your birth date, time and city and turns them into those eight characters in five steps.

1. Resolve the birth city's historical time zone and daylight saving for that exact date.
2. Convert to true solar time using longitude and the equation of time (optional, on by default).
3. Find the year from the exact 立春 instant and the month from the twelve jie solar terms.
4. Count the day in the unbroken sixty-day cycle, changing at 23:00 by default.
5. Derive the hour stem, hidden stems, Ten Gods, element counts and luck pillars from those pillars.

Each step is shown in the result, so you can see exactly which rule produced each pillar. Read the full methodology for the astronomical details.

BaZi (八字, "eight characters"), also called the Four Pillars of Destiny (四柱命理), is a traditional Chinese method of describing a person through the calendar cycles at the moment of birth. Its building blocks are the ten heavenly stems, the twelve earthly branches and the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

The method took its modern form in the Song dynasty, when the day stem — the Day Master — became the centre of the chart. Every other stem is then named by its relation to the Day Master as one of the Ten Gods, and ten-year luck pillars describe how the chart unfolds over time.

BaZi is a cultural and philosophical tradition. This site calculates charts precisely and explains the symbols; it does not claim that charts predict events.

• Learning BaZi — see every rule applied to a real chart and follow links to explanations.
• Checking another chart — compare pillars with a book or app and trace any difference to a boundary rule.
• Self-reflection — use the Day Master and element balance as a vocabulary for thinking about tendencies.
• Comparing two charts — list combinations and clashes between partners, friends or colleagues.
• Timing study — read luck and annual pillars against the natal chart.
• Teaching — export or print charts for a class or study group.

Traditionally a chart was cast with a printed ten-thousand-year calendar (万年历). That works, but it is easy to slip on exactly the cases that matter most: births near 立春, on a solar-term day, close to 23:00, in places with historical daylight saving or far from the time-zone meridian.

Charting by hand is still the best way to learn. Use the calculator to check your work, and the chart-checking guide when results differ.

Your Day Master is the stem of your day pillar. Each one has a guide covering its element, season, roots and useful elements.

• 甲甲 Jia Yang WoodWood · Yang
• 乙乙 Yi Yin WoodWood · Yin
• 丙丙 Bing Yang FireFire · Yang
• 丁丁 Ding Yin FireFire · Yin
• 戊戊 Wu Yang EarthEarth · Yang
• 己己 Ji Yin EarthEarth · Yin
• 庚庚 Geng Yang MetalMetal · Yang
• 辛辛 Xin Yin MetalMetal · Yin
• 壬壬 Ren Yang WaterWater · Yang
• 癸癸 Gui Yin WaterWater · Yin

The Ten Gods describe how every stem relates to the Day Master. They are the main vocabulary for reading a chart.

• 比Friend (比肩)self, peers, independence and equal partners
• 劫Rob Wealth (劫财)drive, rivalry, boldness and shared risk
• 食Eating God (食神)expression, enjoyment, output and gentle creativity
• 伤Hurting Officer (伤官)bold expression, talent, critique and breaking convention
• 偏Indirect Wealth (偏财)opportunity, flexible income, trade and social reach
• 正Direct Wealth (正财)earned income, budgeting, diligence and commitments
• 七Seven Killings (七杀)pressure, challenge, discipline under stress and decisive authority
• 正Direct Officer (正官)structure, rules, reputation and responsibility
• 偏Indirect Resource (偏印)unconventional learning, intuition, specialist skills and solitude
• 正Direct Resource (正印)support, learning, credentials, care received

Element balance is judged mainly from the month branch (season) and the roots of the Day Master in the branches, not by counting characters alone. Each element has guides for strong and weak Day Masters.

• Wood — strong · weak
• Fire — strong · weak
• Earth — strong · weak
• Metal — strong · weak
• Water — strong · weak

Luck pillars change every ten years from a starting age calculated from the solar terms; annual pillars change every 立春. The calculator lists both with Ten Gods so you can read them against your chart.

• When do luck pillars start?
• Forward or backward luck
• Reading an annual pillar
• Luck pillar calculator

• Day Master Calculator — Find your BaZi Day Master (日主) from date, time and birthplace, with element, polarity, season and roots explained.
• Ten Gods Calculator — Calculate the Ten Gods (十神) of every stem and hidden stem in your BaZi chart, with counts by family and links to explanations.
• Five Elements Calculator — Count the five elements in your BaZi chart transparently — visible stems, branches and hidden stems — and see the season that weights them.
• Hidden Stems Calculator — See the hidden stems (藏干) inside each earthly branch of your BaZi chart, with main and residual qi, Ten Gods and roots.
• Luck Pillar Calculator — Calculate BaZi luck pillars (大运): direction, exact starting age from solar terms, ten-year pillars with Ten Gods and calendar years.
• Annual Pillar Calculator (Liu Nian) — Find the annual pillar (流年) for any year and see its Ten Gods and interactions with your BaZi chart and current luck pillar.
• BaZi Compatibility Calculator — Compare two BaZi charts side by side: Day Masters, element balance, stem combinations and branch clashes, without scores.
• True Solar Time Calculator — Convert clock time to true solar time for BaZi: longitude correction, equation of time and historical daylight saving.
• Chinese Calendar Converter (Gan Zhi) — Convert any Gregorian date to Chinese stem-branch (干支) year, month and day, with the solar term and lunar date.

• Zi Wei Dou Shu Calculator — 12 palaces and stars
• Liu Yao (Six Lines) — Coin casting with Na Jia
• Mei Hua Yi Shu — Number and time casting
• Qi Men Dun Jia — Hour chart, nine palaces
• Chinese Almanac — Daily pillars, yi/ji, solar terms

Not sure how these differ? Read the comparisons.

• What are the Four Pillars of Destiny?
• How to read a BaZi chart
• How to Find Your Day Master
• How to Judge Day Master Strength: Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Read the Ten Gods in Context
• Finding the Useful Element (Yong Shen)
• Reading Luck Pillars Step by Step
• Combinations and Clashes Explained
• What to Do If You Don't Know Your Birth Time
• How to Check a BaZi Chart for Errors

New to the vocabulary? The glossary defines more than fifty terms, from hidden stems and true solar time to three harmony and the useful element. Common questions are collected in the FAQ.

• BaZi vs Zi Wei Dou Shu
• Liu Yao vs Mei Hua Yi Shu
• BaZi vs Western Astrology
• Qi Men Dun Jia vs Liu Yao
• True Solar Time vs Clock Time
• Day change at 23:00 vs Day change at 00:00

A full reading takes years to learn, but the first pass is simple. After you calculate, work through these five questions in order and follow the links when a term is new.

1. What is my Day Master? Look at the highlighted stem in the day column and open its guide.
2. What season was I born in? The month branch tells you which element is in command.
3. Is my Day Master rooted? Look for its element among the hidden stems under each branch.
4. Which Ten God family dominates the visible stems? That suggests the chart's main theme.
5. Which luck pillar am I in now, and does it bring the elements the chart lacks?

That is enough to start a study notebook. The step-by-step guides take each question further.

Calculation accuracy is something we can actually test. The engine is checked against reference charts for solar-term boundaries, 立春 births, the 23:00 day change, historical daylight saving in several countries and births far from the time-zone meridian. Divination tools are checked against worked examples from standard references.

When conventions differ between schools, we do not hide the choice — the setting is visible and switchable, and the result tells you which rule was applied. If you find a chart you believe is wrong, the result page shows every intermediate value so the cause can be traced.

You can calculate, print and export charts without an account. Charts are only stored if you choose to save them — on this device, or in your account after signing in with Google. There are no ads in the chart and no paid "readings".

Charts on this site use the published rule set: true solar time by default, the year changes at 立春 (Start of Spring), months change at the 12 节 solar terms and the day changes at 23:00. Example charts below are computed live by the same engine.

BaZi is a traditional cultural system. This page explains how the symbols are defined and read; it does not make scientific claims or predictions about your health, money or relationships.