Chinese birth chart · BaZi
Chinese Birth Chart: What Is a BaZi Chart?
A Chinese birth chart is a common English description of a BaZi chart, a traditional calendrical arrangement of four pillars.
Short answer
Is a Chinese birth chart the same as BaZi?
Key facts
- BaZi / 八字
- The name means eight characters.
- Four Pillars
- The Year, Month, Day and Hour pairs.
- Chinese zodiac
- Usually a year-animal label, not a complete BaZi chart.
- Calculator inputs
- Birth date, local time and location.
How are the main terms related?
Chinese birth chart is a broad English description. BaZi / 八字 means eight characters. Four Pillars names the four pairs that contain those characters. Chinese zodiac commonly means a year animal.
Read the Four Pillars explanation, learn how a Day Master is derived, or use the BaZi learning hub.
What are common points of confusion?
A year animal is not a complete chart. Birth year alone is not a complete chart. A Day Master is not the entire chart.
Where can you calculate a chart?
This page explains the terminology. To generate your own chart, use the interactive Biohack.BaZi calculator. To understand its inputs and limits first, read the calculator guide.
Ready to explore your chart?
Use the framework as a starting point for better questions, not a fixed verdict.
Which sources support these terms?
- Hong Kong Observatory, “Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches” — supports the calendrical stem-and-branch cycle and formal terminology.
- Kenyon College, “10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches” — supports stem names, yin-yang classifications and Five Element labels.