Bazi (八字)
Eight characters, four pillars, one chart.
In short
Bazi (八字, bā zì, "eight characters") is the Chinese method of writing a birth moment as eight characters: four pillars, each made of one heavenly stem and one earthly branch, taken from the year, month, day, and hour of birth.
| Characters | 八字 |
|---|---|
| Pinyin | bā zì |
| Group | Foundations |
The name is a count. Four pillars, two characters each, eight characters in total. Those eight are read as one chart rather than eight separate notes, and the relationships between them carry most of the meaning.
The system is also called Four Pillars of Destiny, which is the English rendering of 四柱命理. Bazi names it after the characters, Four Pillars names it after the columns they sit in. Same thing, and both names are worth knowing because sources use them interchangeably.
What separates Bazi from the zodiac year sign, which is what most people have met, is scope. Your zodiac sign is the branch of the year pillar: one character out of eight. Two people born in the same zodiac year can have quite different charts, because the other seven characters differ, and the reading is built from the whole set.
The year pillar also changes on a different date. Bazi rolls the year over at Start of Spring, near 4 February, not at Chinese New Year and not on 1 January. Someone born in the last week of January is in the previous year as far as the chart is concerned.
Definitions get you through a chart. Something has to be done with it.
The audit walks the nine areas of a home in the order that matters, with two or three changes per area. It is the practical half of what these terms describe.
Questions people ask about this term
Is Bazi the same as the Chinese zodiac?
No. Your zodiac sign is the branch of the year pillar, one character out of the eight. Bazi reads all eight, and the day pillar matters more than the year pillar for personality. That is why two people born in the same zodiac year can get different readings.
Do I need my exact birth time for Bazi?
For the full chart, yes. Without an hour you have six characters rather than eight, and the hour pillar is what carries the later-life and output positions. Birth time within the hour matters less, though a birth close to a two-hour boundary can move the pillar, which is where true solar time comes in.
Is Bazi the same as Four Pillars of Destiny?
Yes. Four Pillars of Destiny is the English name for the same system, 四柱命理. Bazi names it after the eight characters and Four Pillars names it after the four columns, so a source using either term means the same method.
This page has no affiliate links and nothing to sell. The tables here are fixed by the tradition and you can check any of them against a printed almanac. What a chart means for a person is a reading of that tradition, not a finding, so treat it as a way to think about a situation rather than a prediction.