Chinese auspicious-hours almanac. Pick a date → all 13 two-hour blocks (early-zi … late-zi) with stem-branch, time range, 宜/忌, clash, and hour nine-star; current hour highlighted. Folk tradition — cultural reference only.
Chinese Auspicious Hours (Shichen)
How to use
Pick a date
It opens on today. Use the calendar to choose any Gregorian date (range 1900-2100); the tool converts to lunar and looks up that day's hour almanac.
Read all 13 two-hour blocks
Results are listed in time order: early-zi (00:00), then 丑 / 寅 / 卯 … 亥, then late-zi (23:00). This "split-zi" layout follows the 通書 convention, so you get 13 rows rather than 12.
Compare 宜 / 忌 / clash / hour-star
Each row shows the block's stem-branch, time range, 宜 (activities suited), 忌 (activities to avoid), the clashed zodiac (冲), and the hour nine-star. The zodiac that an hour clashes is conventionally avoided during that block.
Spot the highlighted "NOW" block
When the chosen date is today, the tool highlights the block covering the current clock hour and tags it "NOW", so you can pick a time on the spot. Re-select or refresh as the day or hour changes.
The Twelve 时辰 and Hour-Fortunes: China's "Time-Selection" Folk Tradition
Long before the 24-hour clock became standard, Chinese timekeeping divided a day and night into twelve 时辰 (shíchen) — two-hour blocks each named after one of the twelve Earthly Branches: 子 (zi), 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥. The 子 block spans late night 23:00–01:00, the 午 block spans midday 11:00–13:00 — which is exactly why classical phrases like "午时三刻" (the third quarter of the noon hour) and "半夜子时" (the dead-of-night zi hour) still echo through Chinese literature and everyday speech. This tool lays out all of a given day's blocks and adds the 宜 (suit), 忌 (avoid), 冲 (clash), and hour nine-star data recorded in the traditional 通書 almanac, so you can see at a glance what each block is conventionally "good for" and "best avoided for".
Why 13 blocks, not 12
You will notice the table has 13 rows. The reason is that the 子 (zi) block straddles midnight — it runs from 23:00 of the previous day to 01:00 of the current day, sitting right on the date boundary. Classical almanacs therefore split it in two: the late-zi block (23:00–24:00, still carrying the previous day's stem-branch) and the early-zi block (00:00–01:00, already carrying the new day's stem-branch). This tool faithfully renders both halves per the 通書 convention, so the full day lists 13 rows: early-zi, the eleven blocks 丑 through 亥, and late-zi. If you have used a paper almanac, this split is exactly why the printed 子 column sometimes appears twice — once at the very top of the day and once at the very bottom. Knowing this saves a lot of confusion when you compare our table against a traditional 通書.
How to read 宜, 忌, 冲, and the hour nine-star
宜 lists the activities a block is traditionally "suited" for (praying, travel, trade, and so on); 忌 lists what is "best avoided". Both come from the almanac's time-selection rubrics, and different almanacs disagree in the details. 冲 names the zodiac animal that the block's stem-branch "clashes" — folk practice holds that a person of the clashed sign should keep a low profile and avoid major moves during that block. The hour nine-star is the 紫白 flying star on duty for that block (1-White, 6-White, 8-White are usually read as auspicious; 2-Black and 5-Yellow as needing caution), and time-selection practitioners weigh it alongside 宜/忌. Read together, these columns are the core of folk "time-selection" (择时).
"One who does not know the hours cannot speak of choosing them." — folk almanac maxim
Cultural stance + disclaimer
Hour-fortunes are part of Chinese folk heritage and are still consulted for weddings, business openings, ground-breaking, and burials across ASEAN Chinese communities — especially in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. But to be clear: this is a cultural and entertainment reference, not a predictive tool, and its validity is not supported by modern science. Different almanacs and different schools can give outright contradictory verdicts; this tool uses the 通書 data embedded in its lunar-calendar library, which is just one such reading. We offer it for cultural preservation and curiosity, and never as a substitute for real-world judgement, professional consultation, or medical/legal advice. For decisions that genuinely matter, weigh the practical facts and consult qualified professionals. Enjoy the tradition — and keep your clarity and agency.
10 Facts about Chinese Auspicious Hours
The twelve 时辰 are named after the Earthly Branches, two hours each: 子 (23-1), 丑 (1-3), 寅 (3-5) … 亥 (21-23). Sundials, water-clocks, and night-watch drums gave enough precision for these two-hour blocks.
The 子 block straddles midnight and is split by the almanac into late-zi (from 23:00, previous day) and early-zi (from 00:00, new day). That is why a full day lists 13 blocks, not 12.
Each block's stem-branch is derived from the day stem: the same branch carries a different stem on different days, so 宜/忌, clash, and hour-star change daily — which is why you pick a date first.
冲 (clash) names the zodiac an hour opposes — e.g. the 子 hour clashes 马 (horse), the 午 hour clashes 鼠 (rat); clashing branches always sit six positions apart. Folk custom advises the clashed sign to avoid major moves then.
The hour nine-star uses the 紫白 system: 1-White, 2-Black, 3-Jade, 4-Green, 5-Yellow, 6-White, 7-Red, 8-White, 9-Purple. 1/6/8-White are often read as auspicious; 2-Black and 5-Yellow as needing caution.
For the same hour, different almanacs can give different — even opposite — 宜/忌. Time-selection has many schools (协纪辨方, 玉匣记, 董公择日 each with its own system); there is no single "correct" answer.
"午时三刻" (the third quarter of the noon hour) appears in execution scenes in classical novels. A 时辰 was divided into eight 刻; 午时三刻 falls near 11:45 — believed to be the peak of yang energy, hence the trope.
Time-selection is still applied in ASEAN Chinese society: ribbon-cuttings, ground-breakings, wedding processions, and handovers often have a "good hour" chosen by a master or from an almanac.
The twelve 时辰 also map to the body's meridian clock (子午流注): traditional medicine assigns each block a dominant organ (e.g. 寅 = lung, 卯 = large intestine). This is a separate use of 时辰 from time-selection.
This tool computes entirely in your browser — no network, no model calls, and it does not store the dates you look up. Hour-fortunes come from the 通書 data in an embedded calendar library and are purely a cultural/entertainment reference.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Not scientifically validated. Hour-fortunes are a centuries-old folk system, but their validity has never passed modern statistical scrutiny and different almanacs even disagree. This tool does not endorse predictive accuracy — cultural/entertainment reference only.
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Because the 子 block straddles midnight. The almanac splits it into late-zi (from 23:00, previous day's stem-branch) and early-zi (from 00:00, new day's stem-branch). This tool shows both per the 通書 convention, so a day lists 13 rows.
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冲 is the zodiac that the block's branch "opposes" (the six-position clash) — e.g. the 子 hour clashes 马 (horse), the 卯 hour clashes 鸡 (rooster). Folk custom advises the clashed sign to keep a low profile and avoid weddings, ground-breaking, etc. then. It is guidance, not a ban.
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The hour nine-star is the 紫白 flying star on duty for the block: 1-White, 2-Black, 3-Jade, 4-Green, 5-Yellow, 6-White, 7-Red, 8-White, 9-Purple. 1/6/8-White read as auspicious; 2-Black and 5-Yellow as cautionary. Time-selection practitioners read it alongside 宜/忌.
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Because time-selection has many schools: almanacs differ in their 宜/忌 rubrics and even in boundary handling (early/late-zi, 立春 year switch). This tool uses the 通書 data in its embedded calendar library — one reading among several, not the single standard.
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Not as your only basis. Time-selection is custom, not a decision tool. Whether a launch, signing, or trip succeeds depends on preparation, timing, and real conditions — not the hour. If picking an auspicious hour gives you confidence and ritual meaning, that's its value; if a "bad hour" makes you anxious or miss a real opportunity, ignore it.
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The embedded calendar library supports roughly 1900–2100 (Gregorian). Once you pick a date, the tool converts to lunar and looks up every block's 宜/忌. Out-of-range or invalid dates show a "no data" notice.
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Only when the date you look up is today: the tool reads your device clock, matches the covering block, and tags it "NOW". Hour 0 maps to early-zi, hour 23 to late-zi, the rest to their two-hour blocks. Re-run after the hour changes to update.
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The calendar library outputs Simplified terms by default. When the interface is Traditional, this tool maps each 宜/忌 term through a built-in Simplified→Traditional (Taiwan) lexicon and converts the 冲 string character-by-character, so Taiwan users see correct Traditional glyphs. Unmapped terms pass through unchanged (graceful Simplified fallback — never an error).
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No. Everything is computed locally in your browser — no server requests, no model calls. RECATOOLS enforces zero-tracking and zero-storage for these lookups.
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