Bing Fire in All Twelve Months: Climate Favorable Elements from the Qiong Tong Bao Jian
The same Bing Fire Day Master born in deep winter and in high summer needs completely different things. The Qiong Tong Bao Jian, a Qing-era classic on climate adjustment, goes through all twelve months for Bing Fire one by one. This page puts them in a single table, then checks how close they come to the favorable elements our engine works out from the whole chart.
Climate favorable elements for each month
| Month | Climate | Climate favorable elements (first choice in bold, Ten God in brackets) | At least one among our favorable elements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yin month (early spring, ~Feb 4 – Mar 5) | lingering cold | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Geng Metal (Indirect Wealth) | 61.3% |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | Wood at its peak | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Ji Earth (Hurting Officer) | 61.2% |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | damp Earth in command | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Jia Wood (Indirect Resource) | 96.4% |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | Fire rising | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Gui Water (Direct Officer), Geng Metal (Indirect Wealth) | 50% |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | scorching heat | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Geng Metal (Indirect Wealth) | 53.1% |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | dry Earth in command | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Geng Metal (Indirect Wealth) | 41.3% |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | Metal emerging | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Wu Earth (Eating God) | 13.3% |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | Metal at its peak | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Gui Water (Direct Officer) | 9.3% |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | dry Earth in command | Jia Wood (Indirect Resource), Ren Water (Seven Killings) | 95% |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | cold setting in | Jia Wood (Indirect Resource), Wu Earth (Eating God), Geng Metal (Indirect Wealth), Ren Water (Seven Killings) | 100% |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | bitter cold | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Wu Earth (Eating God), Ji Earth (Hurting Officer) | 46.3% |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | frozen, damp Earth | Ren Water (Seven Killings), Jia Wood (Indirect Resource) | 100% |
Climate favorable elements follow the commonly circulated table of the Qiong Tong Bao Jian, listed roughly in order of priority. The original text often chooses differently depending on the rest of the chart; the table gathers all those cases into one list. Across the twelve months, the most frequent first choice is Ren Water (10 months). Month dates are approximate and shift by a day or two each year with the solar terms.
What the original text says
| Month | Original text (Chinese) | In plain words |
|---|---|---|
| Yin month (early spring, ~Feb 4 – Mar 5) | 「正月丙火，三陽開泰，火氣漸炎，取壬為尊，庚金佐之。」 | Fire is rising in early spring: Ren Water leads, with Geng Metal producing the Water in support. |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | 「二月丙火，陽氣舒升，專用壬水。」 | Ren Water alone in mid-spring; the common table also lists Ji Earth. |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | 「三月丙火，氣漸炎升，用壬水。」 | Ren Water still in late spring; heavy Earth dims the Fire, so Jia Wood is needed to loosen it. |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | 「四月丙火，建祿於巳，火勢炎炎，宜專用壬水，解炎威之力，成既濟之功。」 | Fire blazes in early summer: Ren Water alone to cool it, with Geng Metal as the Water's source. |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | 「三夏丙火，陽威性烈，專用壬水。」 | Fire is at its peak in midsummer: Ren Water above all, with Geng Metal in support. |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | 「六月丙火退氣……壬水為用，取庚輔佐。」 | Fire retreats in late summer: Ren Water is still used, assisted by Geng Metal. |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | 「惟日照湖海，暮夜光天，故仍用壬水，輔映光輝。」 | The sun is westering in early autumn and Earth dims it: Ren Water still reflects its light; with too much Water, Wu Earth controls it. |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | 「八月丙火，日近黃昏……仍用壬水輔映。」 | Near dusk in mid-autumn: Ren Water is still used to reflect the light. |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | 「九月丙火，火氣愈退……必須先用甲木，次取壬水。」 | The great fear in late autumn is Earth dimming the Fire: Jia Wood first to loosen the Earth, then Ren Water. |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | 「總之十月丙火，木旺宜庚，水旺宜戊，火旺用壬，隨宜酌用可也。」 | Bing Fire is out of season in early winter; choose by what is excessive: Geng for strong Wood, Wu for strong Water, Ren for strong Fire. |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | 「十一月丙火，冬至一陽生，弱中復強，壬水為最，戊土佐之。」 | Yang returns at the winter solstice: Ren Water leads, with Wu Earth in support. |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | 「十二月丙火，氣進二陽……喜壬為用。己土司令，土多又不可少甲。」 | Ren Water is still liked in deep winter; Ji Earth rules, and with much Earth Jia Wood cannot be missing. |
Quotations follow the edition on Chinese Wikisource and were checked sentence by sentence against a second circulating edition; where the two differ the passage is skipped with an ellipsis, and variant characters are written in their standard forms. Where the book discusses several months together, the same sentence is repeated. The plain-words column is our own summary, not the book's wording; where the table above lists more climate favorable elements than the book's summary for that month, it is flagged there.
The four seasons at a glance
| Season | Months | What the table emphasizes |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | Yin, Mao, Chen | In spring Wood is strong and feeds the Fire, so Ren Water leads: assisted by Geng Metal in Yin month, Ji Earth in Mao month and Jia Wood in Chen month. |
| Summer | Si, Wu, Wei | In summer the Fire blazes and Ren Water matters most, assisted by Gui and Geng in Si month, and in Wu and Wei months by Geng Metal, the source that produces the Water. |
| Autumn | Shen, You, Xu | In Shen and You months Ren Water still comes first. In Xu month heavy Earth dims the Fire, so Jia Wood comes first to loosen the soil. |
| Winter | Hai, Zi, Chou | Hai month takes Jia first, then Wu, Geng and Ren; Zi month takes Ren first, then Wu and Ji; Chou month takes Ren and Jia. In ten of the twelve months, Bing Fire's first choice is Ren Water. |
How we counted: our engine cast one chart for every day from 1960 to 2005, with the birth hour drawn at random from a fixed seed, 16,802 charts in all, and compared the Qiong Tong Bao Jian's climate favorable elements for that Day Master and month with the favorable elements our engine worked out.
Find your climate favorable elements
Enter your date of birth to find your Day Master and birth month, see which climate favorable elements the Qiong Tong Bao Jian lists for them, and check each one against the favorable elements our engine works out from your whole chart. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Uses your Gregorian birth date. The month follows the solar terms, not the calendar month: Yin month begins at Start of Spring, Mao month at Awakening of Insects, and so on (see how the month pillar works).
A straight word: the Qiong Tong Bao Jian is a good map, but it is not your location
The Qiong Tong Bao Jian lists climate favorable elements by Day Master and birth month, which tells you what people born in that month usually need. Two people born in the same month can still hold very different amounts of Fire and Water. In our own test, the book's first choice matched the top favorable element our engine worked out from the whole chart only 35.0% of the time; at least one of the listed climate favorable elements was among the favorable elements 84.8% of the time. Use it for a sense of direction, and read the whole chart in the end. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
Are you a Bing Fire Day Master?
Enter your birth date to see which climate favorable elements the Qiong Tong Bao Jian gives for your birth month, and whether they are among your favorable elements.
Bing Fire climate adjustment FAQ
What is the climate favorable element for Bing Fire born in Yin month?
The common Qiong Tong Bao Jian table lists Ren Water and Geng Metal, with Ren Water as the first choice.
What is the climate favorable element for Bing Fire born in Zi month?
The table lists Ren Water, Wu Earth and Ji Earth, with Ren Water as the first choice.
Is the Bing Fire climate favorable element the same as my favorable element?
Not necessarily. In our engine simulation, the first-choice climate favorable element for Bing Fire matched our top favorable element 14.6% of the time, and at least one of the listed climate favorable elements was among the favorable elements 60.3% of the time. Favorable elements also depend on the strength of the whole chart and how warm or cold it already runs.