Chinese Almanac Guides

Where the Yellow and Black Paths, the day officers, the favourable and unfavourable activities and the almanac's other entries come from, and what they mean. Each guide follows the Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu), with every quotation checked against the book.

• The Twelve Yellow and Black Path Spirits: What Is an Auspicious Day?

  Azure Dragon, Bright Hall, Golden Casket, Precious Light, Jade Hall and Arbiter of Fate are the Yellow Path; the other six are the Black Path. How the day spirit is worked out in the Imperial Almanac, and whether a Yellow Path day is always a good day.

• The Twelve Day Officers (Jian Chu)

  The twelve day officers are among the most familiar entries in a Chinese almanac. Their order, where each month's count starts, and which are good or bad, following the Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu).

• How the Almanac's Favourable and Unfavourable Activities Are Decided

  An almanac's daily activities are not written by feel. The four steps from spirits to activities in the Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu), and how this site checks its results against the book.

• The Sixty Activities of the Chinese Almanac: What Each One Means

  What do entries such as sending betrothal gifts, setting up a bed, breaking ground for a grave or exhuming for reburial mean? Every activity in the almanac's list, explained in plain English, following the Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu).

• The Imperial Almanac (Xieji Bianfang Shu): The Basis of This Site

  This site's activities, spirits, day officers and Yellow and Black Paths all follow the Qing dynasty's Imperial Almanac. Where the book comes from, what it contains and how this site uses it.