Geng Metal in All Twelve Months: Climate Favorable Elements from the Qiong Tong Bao Jian
The same Geng Metal 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 Geng Metal 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 | Wu Earth (Indirect Resource), Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth), Ren Water (Eating God), Bing Fire (Seven Killings), Ding Fire (Direct Officer) | 100% |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | Wood at its peak | Ding Fire (Direct Officer), Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth), Geng Metal (Friend), Bing Fire (Seven Killings) | 100% |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | damp Earth in command | Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth), Ding Fire (Direct Officer), Ren Water (Eating God), Gui Water (Hurting Officer) | 47.9% |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | Fire rising | Ren Water (Eating God), Wu Earth (Indirect Resource), Bing Fire (Seven Killings), Ding Fire (Direct Officer) | 100% |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | scorching heat | Ren Water (Eating God), Gui Water (Hurting Officer) | 57.1% |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | dry Earth in command | Ding Fire (Direct Officer), Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth) | 38.7% |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | Metal emerging | Ding Fire (Direct Officer), Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth) | 55.9% |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | Metal at its peak | Ding Fire (Direct Officer), Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth), Bing Fire (Seven Killings) | 77.1% |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | dry Earth in command | Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth), Ren Water (Eating God) | 76.8% |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | cold setting in | Ding Fire (Direct Officer), Bing Fire (Seven Killings) | 34.3% |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | bitter cold | Ding Fire (Direct Officer), Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth), Bing Fire (Seven Killings) | 35.1% |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | frozen, damp Earth | Bing Fire (Seven Killings), Ding Fire (Direct Officer), Jia Wood (Indirect Wealth) | 65.7% |
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 Ding Fire (6 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) | 「正月庚金，木旺之際，有土皆死，不能生金，且金之寒氣未除，先用丙暖庚性，又慮土厚埋金，須甲疏洩。」 | Metal is still cold in early spring: Bing Fire first to warm it, and Jia Wood to loosen thick Earth that could bury it. |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | 「故二月庚金，專用丁火，借甲引丁，借庚劈甲。」 | Ding Fire alone to forge the Metal in mid-spring, with Jia Wood kindling the Ding and Geng splitting the Jia. |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | 「三月庚金，戊土司令，無生金之理，有埋金之憂，故先甲後丁」 | Wu Earth rules in late spring and may bury the Metal: Jia Wood first to loosen the Earth, then Ding Fire to forge. |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | 「丙亦可作用，但先壬水，方得中和，故曰群金生夏，喜用勾陳。次取戊土，丙火佐之。」 | Ren Water first in early summer for balance, then Wu Earth, with Bing Fire in support. |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | 「五月庚金，丁火旺烈，庚金敗地，專用壬水，癸又次之。」 | Ding Fire is fierce in midsummer: Ren Water alone to control the Fire and protect the Metal, then Gui Water. |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | 「六月庚金，三伏生寒，頑鈍極矣，先用丁火，次取甲木。」 | Metal is dull in late summer: Ding Fire first to forge it, then Jia Wood to kindle the Fire. |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | 「七月庚金，剛銳極矣。專用丁火煅煉」 | Metal is at its hardest in early autumn: Ding Fire alone to temper it, with Jia Wood kindling the Ding. |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | 「若丁甲透，又見一丙，功名顯赫」 | Still hard in mid-autumn: Ding Fire and Jia Wood, and Bing Fire cannot be missing either. |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | 「九月庚金，戊土司令，最怕土厚埋金，宜先用甲疏，後用壬洗，則金自出矣。」 | Wu Earth rules in late autumn and thick Earth may bury the Metal: Jia Wood first to loosen it, then Ren Water to wash. |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | 「十月庚金，水冷性寒，非丁莫造，非丙不暖。」 | Water is cold in early winter: without Ding Fire the Metal cannot be forged, without Bing Fire it cannot be warmed. |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | 「十一月庚金，天氣嚴寒，仍取丁甲，次取丙火照暖。」 | Midwinter is severe: Ding Fire and Jia Wood are still taken, then Bing Fire for warmth. |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | 「十二月庚金，寒氣太重，且多濕泥，愈寒愈凍，先取丙火解凍，次取丁火煉金，甲亦不可少。」 | Cold is heaviest in deep winter: Bing Fire first to thaw, then Ding Fire to forge, and 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 | For Yin month the common table lists Wu, Jia, Ren, Bing and Ding, while the original text sums it up as "Bing and Jia are best, Ding Fire next." Mao month takes Ding, Jia, Geng and Bing; Chen month takes Jia, Ding, Ren and Gui. |
| Summer | Si, Wu, Wei | Si month takes Ren, Wu, Bing and Ding. In Wu month the Fire is strong enough to melt Metal, so Ren and Gui. Wei month takes Ding and Jia. |
| Autumn | Shen, You, Xu | In autumn Metal is strong, and the key is Ding Fire to forge it with Jia Wood to kindle the Ding; in You month Bing Fire assists. Xu month takes Jia and Ren. |
| Winter | Hai, Zi, Chou | In winter the Metal is cold and the Water chilly: Hai month takes Ding and Bing, Zi month Ding, Jia and Bing, Chou month Bing, Ding and Jia. |
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 Geng Metal Day Master?
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Geng Metal climate adjustment FAQ
What is the climate favorable element for Geng Metal born in Yin month?
The common Qiong Tong Bao Jian table lists Wu Earth, Jia Wood, Ren Water, Bing Fire and Ding Fire, with Wu Earth as the first choice.
What is the climate favorable element for Geng Metal born in Zi month?
The table lists Ding Fire, Jia Wood and Bing Fire, with Ding Fire as the first choice.
Is the Geng Metal climate favorable element the same as my favorable element?
Not necessarily. In our engine simulation, the first-choice climate favorable element for Geng Metal matched our top favorable element 12.8% of the time, and at least one of the listed climate favorable elements was among the favorable elements 65.8% of the time. Favorable elements also depend on the strength of the whole chart and how warm or cold it already runs.