The Chinese almanac is a daily calendar that records which activities are considered favorable or unfavorable on any given date, alongside the astronomical and astrological data that supports those judgements. Its Chinese name is Tong Shu (通書), meaning “the book that knows everything.”

In Cantonese-speaking regions, the Chinese almanac is more commonly known as Tong Sing (通勝) rather than Tung Shu (通書). A popular explanation is that the character for “book” (書) is pronounced the same as the word for “to lose” (輸) in Cantonese, making it an unlucky choice for a publication associated with selecting auspicious dates. Replacing it with the character for “victory” (勝) gives the almanac a much more fortunate name.

This small linguistic superstition reflects the cultural beliefs that surround the almanac, but the book itself is far more than a collection of lucky sayings. It is a highly structured reference that combines traditional Chinese calendrical calculations, astronomy, astrology, and date-selection principles to identify favorable and unfavorable times for a wide range of activities.

For much of the past two thousand years, the Chinese almanac was the most widely owned book in China. Even households with few or no other books often kept a copy. Farmers relied on it to plan planting and harvests. Merchants consulted it to choose auspicious opening days.

Families turned to it before weddings, funerals, moving house, and even a newborn’s first haircut. Today, printed editions are still sold in the millions each year across Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and mainland China.

What the Chinese Almanac Actually Records

Open any traditional edition to a random page and you will find a single day given a full column of information. The layout has stayed remarkably stable for centuries.

At the top sits the date in two systems at once: the Gregorian date and the lunar date. Below that comes the day’s pillar in the sexagenary cycle, written as one heavenly stem paired with one earthly branch. Then the day officer, the lunar mansion, the nine star, the clashing animal, the day’s five-element quality, and the positions of several directional deities.

Underneath all of that come the two lists that most readers turn to first. The first list is headed yi (宜), meaning suitable. The second is headed ji (忌), meaning avoid. Between them they cover somewhere between fifty and one hundred distinct human activities depending on the publisher, from signing contracts and installing a bed to repairing graves and launching a boat.

A day might advise that travel, prayer, and trade are favorable, while burial, groundbreaking, and litigation should wait. Another day might carry the blunt entry 諸事不宜, meaning nothing at all is favorable today.

How Many Chinese Calendars Are There?

Three calendar systems are in active use in Chinese life today, and confusion between them causes most of the misunderstandings around the Chinese almanac.

The first is the Gregorian calendar, adopted officially in 1912 and used for all civil and business purposes.

The second is the luni-solar calendar, called nongli (農曆) or “agricultural calendar.” Months follow the moon while years stay aligned to the sun. Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival all follow it.

The third is the solar term calendar, built from twenty-four seasonal markers spaced through the tropical year. Farmers relied on it because it tracks the actual seasons rather than the moon. Feng Shui and Chinese astrology also use the almanac, since the astrological year begins at the solar term Li Chun on February 4th rather than at Chinese New Year.

Historically the count is much larger. More than one hundred official calendar systems were promulgated across successive dynasties, each a refinement of the astronomical mathematics behind the previous version. Calendar reform was an imperial monopoly, and issuing a rival calendar was treated as a challenge to the throne.

How Many Days Are in the Chinese Lunar Calendar?

A lunar month runs either twenty-nine or thirty days, following the period from one new moon to the next. The true figure is roughly 29.53 days, so months alternate in length to keep the average correct.

Twelve of those months come to between 353 and 355 days, which falls about eleven days short of the solar year. Left uncorrected, the calendar would drift until New Year landed in summer.

The correction is a leap month, called run yue (閏月). Seven leap months are inserted across every nineteen-year cycle, a pattern the Greeks recorded independently as the Metonic cycle. A leap year in the Chinese calendar therefore contains thirteen months and runs between 383 and 385 days.

Leap months carry no fixed position. A leap month can follow any ordinary month, taking that month’s number with the character run in front of it. The placement depends on where the solar terms fall, which is why lunar dates cannot be converted with simple arithmetic and require proper astronomical tables.

How Many Animals Are in the Chinese Lunar Calendar?

Twelve. The sequence runs Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.

Each animal corresponds to one of the twelve earthly branches, which are the older and more technical form of the system. Practitioners work with the branches rather than the animals, because branches carry properties the animal names do not show: an element, a season, a direction, and a set of relationships with the other eleven.

Those relationships matter more than the animal symbolism. Every branch has one branch directly opposite it in the cycle, six positions away, and the pairing is called a clash (沖). Every branch also has a partner it combines with harmoniously, called a six harmony (六合), and two branches it forms a three harmony frame with (三合). Further relationships cover harm (害) and punishment (刑).

A Chinese almanac lists the clashing zodiac animal for each day. Anyone born in that animal year is traditionally advised to avoid major decisions or postpone important activities. It is one of the oldest and simplest principles of Chinese date selection, as the advice changes depending on a person’s birth year rather than applying equally to everyone.

The twelve animals combine with ten heavenly stems to produce the sexagenary cycle of sixty pairings. Years, months, days, and double-hours all carry a stem and branch pair, which is where the four pillars of Chinese astrology come from.

Origin of the Chinese Almanac

Astronomical record-keeping in China long predates the almanac itself. Oracle bone inscriptions from the Shang dynasty already record lunar months and eclipse observations. What transformed those astronomical records into a guide for everyday life was the imperial Bureau of Astronomy, which was responsible for calculating the calendar and publishing the official almanac each year.

Printing changed the document’s reach. By the Tang dynasty the calendar was being produced with woodblocks, and surviving fragments show a printed almanac from 877 CE, which makes it one of the oldest printed books anywhere in the world. Circulation grew through the Song and Ming periods until private printers were producing unauthorized editions faster than the state could suppress them.

The almanac settled into roughly its modern form during the Qing dynasty. An edition printed in 1800 and one printed today contain nearly the same categories in the same order, which is why the tradition adapts so well to digital form. The calculations have always followed systematic rules, making them well suited to modern computation.

How the Chinese Calendar Follows Two Cycles at Once

Calling the Chinese calendar a lunar calendar is an oversimplification. A purely lunar calendar, such as the Islamic calendar, allows its months to drift through the seasons. The Chinese calendar keeps its lunar months aligned with the solar year, and that careful balance between the cycles of the Moon and the Sun is the foundation on which the entire almanac is built.

Months answer to the moon. Every month begins on the day of the new moon as seen from a specific meridian, which is why the lengths vary and cannot be fixed in advance without astronomical calculation.

Years answer to the sun. The twenty-four solar terms divide the tropical year into equal segments, and the calendar inserts its leap months wherever needed to keep the terms falling in their proper months.

The double allegiance produces the effect that most confuses newcomers. Chinese New Year moves across a five-week window in the Gregorian calendar, while the solar terms stay within a day or two of the same date every year. Anyone using the almanac for Feng Shui or astrology works from the solar terms, since the astrological year turns at Li Chun in early February and not at Chinese New Year.

The Twelve Day Officers

Behind the favorable and unfavorable lists of the Chinese almanac sits a structure most casual readers never notice. Every day is assigned one of twelve officers, known as the jian chu shen (建除十二神). The sequence runs in fixed order: Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Stable, Initiate, Destruction, Danger, Success, Receive, Open, Close.

The officer sets the general character of the day. Success and Open days are broadly favorable. Destruction days are unsuitable for almost everything except demolition. Stable days suit contracts and agreements. Remove days suit clearing, cleaning, and medical treatment.

The sequence advances one step per day, with a single repeat each time the month changes at a solar term. Understanding the repeat explains something that puzzles new readers, which is why two consecutive days occasionally carry the same officer.

Alongside the officers runs a second layer of twelve day spirits, divided into yellow path days (黃道) and black path days (黑道). Yellow path days are auspicious. Black path days are not. Most of the entries in the yi and ji lists are generated from the interaction of these two systems with the day’s stem and branch.

The Supporting Data

Several further layers appear in a full almanac entry.

The twenty-eight lunar mansions divide the sky along the moon’s monthly path. Each mansion carries its own auspicious or inauspicious quality, and the sequence rotates on a fixed twenty-eight day cycle independent of everything else.

The nine stars assign one of nine numbers to each day, matching the same nine numbers used in Flying Star Feng Shui. Their daily rotation is separate from the annual and monthly star cycles.

Each day, the Chinese almanac assigns auspicious directions to three symbolic deities: the God of Wealth, the God of Happiness, and the God of Fortune. Traditionally, people face the appropriate direction when beginning an activity related to that aspect of life, such as starting a business, celebrating an occasion, or seeking good fortune.

The Peng Zu taboos give two short cautions per day, one attached to the day’s stem and one to its branch. They are among the oldest content in the almanac and read like proverbs. A Gui day advises against lawsuits because your position is the weaker one. A Wei day advises against taking medicine.

Each day is also divided into twelve double-hours, each carrying its own stem and branch and its own auspicious or inauspicious rating. Anyone selecting a date seriously will select an hour within it as well.

How Practitioners Use the Almanac

Casual readers treat the Chinese almanac as a daily horoscope. Practitioners treat it as a filter.

The working method runs in stages. Start with the general quality of the day from the officer and the day spirit. Check whether the intended activity appears in the favorable list or the unfavorable list. Check whether the day clashes with the birth year of the person the date is being chosen for. Check the hour. Only then check whether the day’s element supports the client and whether the direction of any physical work aligns with the annual afflictions.

Most days fail at least one of those tests, which is the point. Date selection narrows a month down to a handful of workable dates rather than declaring every day equally good.

Professional date selection, called ze ri (擇日), goes further and works from the full birth chart rather than the year alone. Printed almanacs cannot do that, because a printed book has no way of knowing who is reading it. Every printed edition gives the same advice to every reader, which is the tradition’s oldest and most obvious limitation.

Where the Chinese Almanac Meets Feng Shui

Feng Shui and the Chinese almanac share a foundation. Both work from the same stems and branches, the same five elements, the same nine stars, and the same directional system.

The division between the two traditions is straightforward. Feng Shui focuses on space: the placement of objects, the relationship between a building and its surroundings, and the way that environment interacts with the people who live or work within it. The almanac focuses on time: determining the most suitable moments to begin activities or make important decisions.

Neither works independently. A carefully calculated remedy installed on a day that conflicts with the occupant’s birth year begins from an unfavorable position. Likewise, a perfectly chosen date for renovating a sector affected by an annual affliction can still disturb that area.

Serious practice uses both. The Feng Shui audit determines what to do and where. The almanac determines when.

Your Personal Digital Chinese Almanac Calendar

Printed editions of the Chinese almanac remain widely available, usually published annually and running to several hundred pages. They cover one year, they are printed in Chinese, and they cannot account for the individual reader.

Digital editions solve both the language barrier and the limitation of fixed date ranges. A calculated almanac can extend a century or more in either direction because its underlying astronomical calculations can be generated on demand. More importantly, a digital edition can be personalized. Once a birth date is entered, clash days, harmony days, and elemental relationships that a traditional printed book cannot easily display become immediately visible.

If you want to work with the almanac in that form, our Daily Feng Shui Almanac Calendar covers every day from 1901 to 2099 and rates each one against your own birth chart rather than giving the same reading to everyone.

Common Questions

Is the Chinese almanac the same as the Chinese zodiac? No. The zodiac is one component within it. The almanac contains the twelve animals, but the animals occupy a small part of a much larger structure of stems, branches, officers, mansions, and stars.

Does the almanac follow the moon or the sun? Both. Dates follow the moon. The astrological content follows the sun through the twenty-four solar terms. Systems that use only one of the two are not complete almanacs.

Do different publishers agree with each other? Broadly, but not entirely. The core rules are consistent, while the exact activity lists vary between publishing houses and regional schools. Reputable editions state which tradition they follow.

Can the almanac predict the future? It does not attempt to. The almanac describes the quality of a period of time and advises which kinds of action suit it. Choosing to act remains entirely with the reader.