What you need for a chart

Birth date, time, place, and the Zi-hour convention all affect chart precision. The more accurate your input, the closer the reading.

Precise birth time

Hour boundaries (e.g. whether 9:00 falls in Si or Chen hour) can change the hour pillar, and births near a solar-term boundary can shift the month pillar. Enter the exact time when you can.

Birth place and true solar time

China uses Beijing time nationwide, but true solar time differs by up to about an hour by longitude — enough to move you into a different hour branch. Picking your birth city applies the correction automatically.

Unknown hour and late Zi

If the hour is unknown, the chart uses Zi hour and the reading flags reduced precision. 23:00–24:00 is late Zi hour — you can switch between the “roll at 23:00” and “roll at 00:00” schools.