Xin Metal in All Twelve Months: Climate Favorable Elements from the Qiong Tong Bao Jian
The same Xin 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 Xin 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 | Ji Earth (Indirect Resource), Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Geng Metal (Rob Wealth) | 100% |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | Wood at its peak | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Jia Wood (Direct Wealth) | 21.6% |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | damp Earth in command | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Jia Wood (Direct Wealth) | 51.4% |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | Fire rising | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Jia Wood (Direct Wealth), Gui Water (Eating God) | 69.5% |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | scorching heat | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Ji Earth (Indirect Resource), Gui Water (Eating God) | 100% |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | dry Earth in command | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Geng Metal (Rob Wealth), Jia Wood (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | Metal emerging | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Jia Wood (Direct Wealth), Wu Earth (Direct Resource) | 100% |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | Metal at its peak | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Jia Wood (Direct Wealth) | 78.4% |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | dry Earth in command | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Jia Wood (Direct Wealth) | 74.1% |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | cold setting in | Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Bing Fire (Direct Officer) | 48.9% |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | bitter cold | Bing Fire (Direct Officer), Wu Earth (Direct Resource), Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Jia Wood (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | frozen, damp Earth | Bing Fire (Direct Officer), Ren Water (Hurting Officer), Wu Earth (Direct Resource), Ji Earth (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 (9 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) | 「欲得辛金發現，全賴壬水之功」 | Xin Metal is out of season in early spring: Ji Earth produces it and Ren Water washes it bright; Geng Metal controls Jia Wood. |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | 「二月辛金，陽和之際，壬水為尊，見戊己為病。得甲制伏，則辛金不致埋沒，壬水不致混濁」 | Ren Water leads in mid-spring; Earth buries the Metal and muddies the Water, so Jia Wood controls the Earth. |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | 「三月辛金，戊土司令，辛承正氣，母旺子相，先壬後甲。」 | Wu Earth rules in late spring: Ren Water first to wash, then Jia Wood to loosen the Earth. |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | 「忌丙火之燥烈，喜壬水之洗淘。」 | Early summer fears Bing Fire's dryness and likes Ren Water's washing; Jia Wood controls Wu Earth and Gui Water may assist. |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | 「五月辛金，丁火司權，辛金失令，陰柔之極，不宜煅煉，須己壬兼用」 | Xin Metal is weakest in midsummer and should not be forged: Ji Earth and Ren Water together; without Ren, Gui Water will do. |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | 「六月辛金，己土當權，輔助太多，恐掩金光，先用壬水，取庚佐之。」 | Too much Ji Earth in late summer hides the Metal's shine: Ren Water first, with Geng Metal in support. |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | 「七月辛金，值庚司令，不旺自旺，且壬水居申」 | Geng Metal rules in early autumn and Xin is strong without trying; Ren Water inside Shen is taken; the common table also lists Jia and Wu. |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | 「八月辛金，當權得令，旺之極矣，專用壬水淘洗」 | Xin Metal peaks in mid-autumn: Ren Water alone to wash it; Jia Wood is used only when Earth appears. |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | 「須甲疏土，壬洩旺金，先壬後甲。」 | Wu Earth rules in late autumn: Jia Wood loosens Earth and Ren Water drains the Metal, Ren before Jia. |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | 「十月辛金，時值小陽……先用壬水，次取丙火」 | Ren Water first in early winter, then Bing Fire: clear Water, bright Metal, and warmth. |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | 「十一月辛金，癸水司令，為寒冬雨露，切忌癸出凍金，而困丙火」 | The great fear in midwinter is Gui Water freezing the Metal and trapping Bing; Ren Water and Bing Fire should both show; the common table also lists Wu and Jia. |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | 「十二月辛金，寒凍之極，先丙後壬」 | Deep winter is frozen hard: Bing Fire first to thaw, then Ren Water to wash. |
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 | Yin month takes Ji Earth first to produce Metal, then Ren and Geng. In Mao and Chen months Ren Water washes the Metal clean, with Jia Wood assisting. |
| Summer | Si, Wu, Wei | In summer Ren Water comes first, assisted by Jia and Gui in Si month, Ji and Gui in Wu month, and Geng and Jia in Wei month. |
| Autumn | Shen, You, Xu | In autumn Ren Water washes the Metal, with Jia Wood assisting; Shen month adds Wu Earth. |
| Winter | Hai, Zi, Chou | Hai month takes Ren first, then Bing. Zi and Chou months are cold and frozen, so Bing Fire comes first for warmth, followed by Ren, Wu and others. In nine of the twelve months, Xin Metal'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 Xin Metal Day Master?
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Xin Metal climate adjustment FAQ
What is the climate favorable element for Xin Metal born in Yin month?
The common Qiong Tong Bao Jian table lists Ji Earth, Ren Water and Geng Metal, with Ji Earth as the first choice.
What is the climate favorable element for Xin Metal born in Zi month?
The table lists Bing Fire, Wu Earth, Ren Water and Jia Wood, with Bing Fire as the first choice.
Is the Xin Metal climate favorable element the same as my favorable element?
Not necessarily. In our engine simulation, the first-choice climate favorable element for Xin Metal matched our top favorable element 28.7% of the time, and at least one of the listed climate favorable elements was among the favorable elements 78.7% of the time. Favorable elements also depend on the strength of the whole chart and how warm or cold it already runs.