The Tung Shing: How to Use the Chinese Almanac
In millions of Chinese households sits a thick annual book consulted before weddings are booked, contracts signed, beds moved or graves swept: the Tung Shing (通胜, also Tong Shu 通书) — the Chinese almanac. Its core is a day-by-day fortune calendar marking what each date favors and forbids. Here is what the book contains and how the date-selection system actually works.
What is in the book
A full Tung Shing is a compendium — charms, palmistry, dream keys, festival lore, even a section teaching English by phonetic Cantonese in the old Hong Kong editions — but its beating heart is the calendar. Each date carries the solar and lunar day, the day's stem-branch in the sixty-day cycle, its presiding officer, its mansion star, the zodiac sign it clashes with, and the famous twin lists: yi (宜) — activities the day favors — and ji (忌) — activities it forbids. A typical entry might favor 'marriage, travel, signing contracts' and forbid 'ground-breaking, funerals'. The book compresses a thousand years of calendrical astrology into a listing a grandmother can check in ten seconds.
The machinery: why a day is 'good'
The listings are not vibes; they are computed. Every day has a stem-branch pair in the sexagenary cycle, which sets its elemental character and — crucially — the zodiac sign it clashes with (a Horse day clashes with Rat people, and so on around the wheel). Layered on this are the Twelve Day Officers (建除十二神), a repeating sequence — Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Stable, Initiate, Destroy, Danger, Success, Receive, Open, Close — each favoring certain undertakings: 'Success' days suit openings, 'Destroy' days suit only demolition, 'Close' days suit collecting debts and little else. The Twenty-Eight Mansions add a lunar-station overlay. Where the layers agree, you get the almanac's best and worst days.
Date selection for big events
Choosing dates (择日) is the almanac's flagship application, and custom ranks occasions by weight. Weddings top the list: a proper selection avoids days clashing with either family's birth signs, favors 'Success/Receive/Open' officer days, and traditionally consults a master for the couple's BaZi compatibility with the date itself. Moving house (入宅) wants a day favoring 'moving' with attention to the household head's sign; business openings hunt 'Open' and 'Success' days with wealth stars; burials and grave works follow the strictest rules of all. The practical minimum anyone can apply: check the yi/ji listing, and never schedule your event on a day that clashes with your own sign.
Using it today, without superstition paralysis
The honest case for the almanac is not that Tuesday secretly hates your contract; it is coordination and commitment. A date chosen with care is a date the family agrees on, arrives prepared for, and treats as significant — and 'auspicious day' bookings mean venues, in-laws and your own psychology all pull the same direction. Modern users check a Tung Shing app for the short list of clash-free favorable dates, pick by convenience among them, and move on. Paralysis — refusing every slightly imperfect day — is a misreading the tradition itself mocks: the almanac's officers include 'Danger' days precisely because life does not wait for perfection.
Date selection starts with knowing your year. Read the full 2026 Fire Horse forecast for your zodiac sign.
Your 2026 Forecast →FAQ
What do 宜 (yi) and 忌 (ji) mean in the almanac?
Yi lists what the day favors (e.g., marriage, travel, signing); ji lists what it forbids (e.g., ground-breaking, surgery). They are the almanac's core daily verdicts.
What is a 'clash day' for my zodiac sign?
Each day's branch clashes with one sign (its opposite on the wheel). On a day clashing your sign, tradition advises against your major undertakings — weddings, moves, openings.
Do I need a master, or can I pick dates myself?
For everyday matters the almanac listing suffices. For weddings and burials tradition uses a master who cross-checks the date against the principals' BaZi charts.
Is there a Tung Shing for 2026?
Yes — it is an annual publication, and the calendrical core is also available in apps and online calendars. 2026 is the Fire Horse year, so Rat-sign clash days deserve extra attention.
Related: Free BaZi Calculator · Free I Ching Reading