Many resources on Bazi in the English-speaking community are either: 1) intentionally complicated to make you believe it will predict your exact future; or 2) confusing because they blend different schools of thought.

The confusion often comes from mixing up the many schools of Bazi, such as Ziping (子平派), ShenSha (神煞), Na Yin (纳音), etc.

So today, in this post, I will explain to you what BaZi is in an extremely simple and direct way.

So first, what is Bazi?

BAZI is a labelling system for time, with each label has two attributes: Yin/Yang & Elements

Think about our modern numerical system for time. The year is 4 digits (2026). The month is 2 digits (02). The day is 2 digits (15). And the hour is usually 2 digits as well (21). 

Together, that is 4+2+2+2 = 10 characters. Put it together, most people can understand 2026.02.15.21 means 9PM on Feb. 15, 2026.

Bazi in Chinese literally means Eight Characters. It is simply a labeling system for the year, month, day, and hour. We call these four time points the Four Pillars. In the Bazi system, each pillar is represented by exactly 2 characters. So, 4 pillars × 2 characters = 8 characters.

This is Bazi. Nothing fancy, just labels.

Following this logic, you could essentially call today’s numerical system ‘Ten Characters’ if you wanted to.

But how is Bazi different?

Well, in the modern numerical system, numbers are just numbers. They don’t represent anything. In Bazi, each character has two unique qualities: Yin/Yang, and one of the five elements.

Each pillar’s two characters consists of two parts: Celestial Stem and Terrestrial Branch.

The Stems has ten different characters, because it follows a ten-day solar rhythm that has been recorded since the Shang dynasty, over three thousand years ago. The terrestrial branch symbolizes the twelve lunar months, and also the twelve two-hour interval period (2*12=24 hours) of the day.

Below are two tables if you are interested in learning what they actually are. But for the purpose of this post, it’s not that important.

Celestial Stem	Chinese	Yin / Yang	Element
Jia	甲	Yang	Wood
Yi	乙	Yin	Wood
Bing	丙	Yang	Fire
Ding	丁	Yin	Fire
Wu	戊	Yang	Earth
Ji	己	Yin	Earth
Geng	庚	Yang	Metal
Xin	辛	Yin	Metal
Ren	壬	Yang	Water
Gui	癸	Yin	Water

Terrestrial Branch	Chinese	Yin / Yang	Element	Hidden Stems (ignore if you are new)
Zi	子	Yang	Water	癸 (Gui)
Chou	丑	Yin	Earth	己 (Ji), 癸 (Gui), 辛 (Xin)
Yin	寅	Yang	Wood	甲 (Jia), 丙 (Bing), 戊 (Wu)
Mao	卯	Yin	Wood	乙 (Yi)
Chen	辰	Yang	Earth	戊 (Wu), 乙 (Yi), 癸 (Gui)
Si	巳	Yin	Fire	丙 (Bing), 戊 (Wu), 庚 (Geng)
Wu	午	Yang	Fire	丁 (Ding), 己 (Ji)
Wei	未	Yin	Earth	己 (Ji), 丁 (Ding), 乙 (Yi)
Shen	申	Yang	Metal	庚 (Geng), 壬 (Ren), 戊 (Wu)
You	酉	Yin	Metal	辛 (Xin)
Xu	戌	Yang	Earth	戊 (Wu), 辛 (Xin), 丁 (Ding)
Hai	亥	Yin	Water	壬 (Ren), 甲 (Jia)

2026, in Chinese eight characters is 丙午 year.

丙 (Bing) is the celestial stem, and 午 (Wu) is the terrestrial branch. To help memorize the 12 terrestrial branches, Chinese came up with the idea of zodiacs which uses an animal to represent each character. 午（Wu）is horse, so this is also the fire horse year, because 丙 (Bing) is yang fire.

BAZI’s relation with Taoism: what it is, and what it is not

BaZi often gets called “Taoist” because it speaks the same cosmology language that Taoism also uses: yin/yang, Five Phases, time as cycles, change as the basic reality. If you’re in a Chinese cultural context, these ideas show up everywhere: medicine, martial arts, feng shui, and Daoist communities too.

But sharing a vocabulary does not make something identical.

Bazi is mostly life-pattern analysis. Different schools believe that with the elements and yin/yang relations, you can derive family information, career prospects, love, wealth, etc. In essence, it is a correlative model: “If X has these combinations, and the ‘self-reference’ in the chart has these qualities, then certain kinds of pressures and supports show up more easily.

Taoism, on the other hand, is about alignment with Dao. It’s a way of life. A way of coping with the changing world. BaZi does not replace that. BaZi doesn’t tell you what you should do morally, and it doesn’t make you “more Daoist” by knowing it. Also, BaZi does not have to be fatalistic. In fact, fatalism is usually where BaZi gets misused. “This is destined so nothing matters” is not only spiritually corrosive; it’s also conceptually lazy.

When I read my own Bazi or a friend’s, I see tendency, things to watch out for, and opportunities to capitalize on. I don’t see because of A, B must happen. That is simply not true.

Fun facts about BaZi

The BaZi system survived over 1000 years, and it is still the most popular divination tool in China. Even state media announce dates with this eight characters underneath, especially on major events such as Chinese New Year Ceremony.

What’s even more interesting is that in ancient China, Westerners actually held high positions in the Qin Tian Jian (translates to Imperial Bureau of Astronomy, kind of like the official Bazi divination consulting office for the emperor).

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Emperors appointed Jesuit missionaries (like Adam Schall and Ferdinand Verbiest) as directors of the Bureau. They used Western mathematics to fix the drifting Chinese calendar, making the “Cosmic Data” used for BaZi more accurate.

So there you have it, you now understand what BaZi is. Stay tuned for more posts on detailed methods and actual readings!