Two Lenses on One Chart
Your birth data can be read through two distinct classical Chinese frameworks. Here they are, side by side. Neither replaces the other. Both describe the same person, from different angles.
Bazi (Four Pillars) uses the solar calendar. The year changes at Li Chun (立春, Start of Spring), around February 4. If you were born before Li Chun, Bazi places you in the previous solar year for the Year Pillar, regardless of when Chinese New Year fell. We cover Li Chun and the zodiac year boundary in more detail if this distinction is new to you.
Zi Wei Dou Shu uses the lunar calendar. The year changes at Chinese New Year (正月初一), which falls between late January and late February each year. The year stem used to compute the Four Transformations (四化) is the Chinese lunar year of your birth date.
For most people these agree. If your birthday falls in January or early February, the two systems may assign different year stems. This is a documented difference in how each tradition defines the year, not a calculation error in either system. This page computes each system independently using its own correct boundary.
Both columns are generated from rule-based classical interpretations, not a practitioner's consultation. The Bazi text draws on Day Master archetypes, Ten God positions, and element associations. The Zi Wei text draws on the major stars placed in each palace at birth. These are starting points for reflection, not authoritative verdicts. Where they converge, that agreement is worth sitting with. Where they diverge, the difference is itself useful, showing that a single framework captures only part of what a person is.
If you would like to go deeper into either instrument, our guide to Zi Wei Dou Shu explains the twelve palaces and how the purple star system reads a chart, and for two people rather than one, the Bazi compatibility guide looks at how two charts are traditionally read together. Both are offered for reflection.