Chinese almanac (老黄历 / Tung Shing). Pick any date for lunar date, stem-branch, zodiac, 宜 (auspicious) + 忌 (avoid) lists, 建除, 廿八宿, clash, 彭祖, fetus spirit, nine-star, solar term. Folk reference.
Daily Chinese Almanac (Huangli)
How to use
Pick the date to look up
The date picker defaults to today. Click it to choose any Gregorian date — check the almanac, scout an auspicious day, or look back at a birthday. Supported range: 1900-2100.
Read the Gregorian + lunar header
The top of the result shows that day's Gregorian date, lunar date, year stem-branch, day stem-branch, and zodiac sign so you can cross-reference the traditional calendar.
Understand 宜 (do) vs 忌 (avoid)
The green 宜 list shows activities the tradition considers favourable that day; the red 忌 list shows ones to avoid. Both come straight from the 通书 almanac and are folk reference only.
Scan the detail panel
Below you get the 建除 day officer, 廿八宿 mansion (with luck), clash + 煞 direction, 彭祖 百忌, fetus-spirit position, day/year nine-star, plus the day's solar term and festivals — the full classical almanac picture.
The Chinese Almanac (老黄历 / Tung Shing): A Folk Guide to Choosing Days
The 老黄历 — also written 黄历, 通书, or romanised Tung Shing in Cantonese — is a folk almanac that has circulated in China for over a thousand years. Alongside the Gregorian and lunar date, it lists for every single day a set of 宜 (activities considered favourable) and 忌 (activities to avoid), plus traditional date-selection columns: the 建除 twelve day-officers, the 廿八宿 lunar mansions, the day's clash and inauspicious direction, the 彭祖 百忌 verses, the fetus-spirit position, and the nine-star reading. From weddings, ground-breaking, and shop-openings to travel, ancestor rites, and moving house, families once consulted the almanac to pick a "good day", and many households still keep one on the wall or by the door. This tool digitises that classical 通书 so you can look up any single date's full 宜忌 in seconds, in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, or English.
Where 宜 and 忌 come from
The almanac's do/avoid lists are not arbitrary. They descend from a formal date-selection system codified in Qing-dynasty imperial calendrical texts such as the 《协纪辨方书》 (Xieji Bianfang Shu), combining the stem-branch cycle, a roster of auspicious and inauspicious "spirits" (神煞), and the solar terms. Each day carries a particular governing spirit and a mix of lucky and unlucky influences, and that combination decides which activities are encouraged or discouraged. Important caveat: different printed almanacs frequently disagree on a given day's 宜忌. This tool uses one public 通书 algorithm, so its output may differ slightly from a paper almanac on your shelf — that is normal, because date-selection has many schools and no single authoritative answer. Treat any one almanac, including this one, as a single voice in a long-running tradition rather than a verdict.
Making sense of the jargon
The 建除 twelve officers (建 establish, 除 remove, 满 full, 平 level, 定 stable, 执 hold, 破 break, 危 danger, 成 complete, 收 collect, 开 open, 闭 close) cycle through the days as twelve auspicious/inauspicious states. The 廿八宿 are 28 lunar mansions dividing the ecliptic, each with a fixed luck reading. The clash (沖) names the zodiac sign opposed that day and the inauspicious 煞 direction; the 彭祖 百忌 are two mnemonic taboos keyed to the day's stem and branch; the fetus-spirit position is a direction expectant households traditionally avoid; and the nine-star reading derives from Flying-Star feng shui. The tool surfaces all of these standard columns together.
"The almanac's do-and-avoid lists exist to follow the seasons and serve the people — not to bind them." — paraphrase of the Qing 《协纪辨方书》 preface
Cultural stance + disclaimer
The 老黄历 is a major vehicle of Chinese folk culture and remains a living tradition among ASEAN Chinese communities (especially Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia). But its date-selection 宜忌 have no scientific basis and are purely folk belief. This tool generates results from a public algorithm and is for cultural-tradition + entertainment reference only; it never constitutes date-selection, legal, medical, financial, or any professional advice. For real-life milestones — marriage, moving, opening a business, signing contracts — rely on practical analysis, professional advice, and your own values, and treat the almanac as a fun cultural cross-reference rather than a decision rule. If it adds a little festive curiosity or a sense of cultural connection, that is its best use.
10 Facts about the Chinese Almanac
The name 黄历 is traditionally linked to the legend that the Yellow Emperor (轩辕黄帝) created the calendar; it is also written 皇历 ("imperial calendar") because, before the Qing, almanacs were issued by the throne.
The Qing imperial 《协纪辨方书》 (Xieji Bianfang Shu, 1742) is the most systematic surviving date-selection text; most 宜忌/神煞 systems in today's almanacs trace back to it.
Different almanacs often disagree on the same day's 宜忌, because date-selection has competing schools that weigh the 神煞 differently. Conflicting almanacs are the norm, not an error.
In Hong Kong the almanac is called 《通胜》 — 书 (book) sounds like 输 (to lose), so it is swapped for the lucky 胜 (to win). It is still a top-selling annual, often printed with "百无禁忌" (no taboos at all).
The 建除 twelve officers cycle daily. 除/危/定/执/成/开 are generally treated as good days; 建/破/平/收/满/闭 depend on the specific activity.
The 廿八宿 divide the ecliptic into 28 mansions, each paired with an animal (e.g. 角木蛟, 亢金龙) — a completely separate sky-division system from the Western 12-sign zodiac.
The 彭祖百忌 are two mnemonic taboos keyed to the day's stem and branch (e.g. "甲不开仓", "子不问卜"), attributed to Peng Zu, the legendary figure said to have lived 800 years.
The 胎神 (fetus spirit) is a folk guardian of the unborn child; the almanac marks its position each day, and expectant households traditionally avoid hammering or moving furniture there — one root of Chinese pregnancy taboos.
The almanac's nine-star and solar-term columns rest on real astronomy: the nine-star is Flying-Star feng shui, and the 24 solar terms are fixed points on Earth's orbit — so these two columns have a genuine astronomical basis even inside a folk almanac.
Picking an auspicious day for weddings, openings, and moves remains common among ASEAN Chinese today; Google Trends shows Chinese searches for "黄道吉日" and "老黄历" rising noticeably around Lunar New Year.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The 宜忌 are folk tradition with no scientific basis. They form a thousand-year-old cultural custom, but "which day is good for what" cannot pass modern statistical scrutiny. This tool does not endorse their validity — it's for cultural + entertainment reference only.
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Because date-selection has multiple schools that weigh the 神煞 differently, almanacs routinely disagree on a given day. This tool uses one public 通书 algorithm, so it may differ slightly from some printed almanacs — that is normal, and there is no single correct answer.
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Yes. The picker defaults to today, but you can set any date between 1900 and 2100 — to scout an auspicious day, revisit a birthday, or plan a festival. All computation runs locally in your browser.
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The green 宜 box lists activities traditionally considered favourable that day (rites, marriage, travel); the red 忌 box lists ones to avoid. Entries come straight from the 通书. If a box says "none", the almanac simply lists no items for that day.
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建除 are twelve day-officers that cycle through the days; 廿八宿 are the 28 lunar mansions, each with a fixed luck reading; 沖煞 marks the clashing zodiac sign and the inauspicious 煞 direction. All are standard almanac columns the tool lists together.
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The content is identical; only the script differs. In Traditional (zh-TW) mode the 宜忌 and 神煞 terms convert automatically to Traditional characters (e.g. 沖 instead of 冲) for readers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas.
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No. All almanac computation runs locally in your browser — no network requests, no model calls. RECATOOLS enforces zero-tracking + zero-storage for these inputs.
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Please don't use it as your only guide. The almanac is a cultural custom, not a decision tool. Weddings, openings, and moves should rest on practical conditions, professional advice, and family coordination. If picking an auspicious day adds ceremony and cultural connection, that's its value; if it makes you anxious or constrained, set it aside.
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Essentially yes — both are folk date-selection almanacs. 《通胜》 is the Hong Kong name (swapping 书/输 for the lucky 胜); printed editions are thicker, often with talismans, selection tables, and miscellany. This tool surfaces the core: the daily 宜忌 and 神煞 columns.
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There are only 24 solar terms a year, and festivals fall on specific days, so for most dates these two rows simply have nothing to show — blank is normal. The tool only fills them when that exact day is a solar term or festival.
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