Cheng Gu 称骨 — the weighing of a birth
Most Chinese birth arts draw a chart. Cheng Gu 称骨 — “weighing the bones” — puts the birth on a scale instead. The year, month, day and hour you were born each carry a fixed weight in liang 两 and qian 钱; add the four together and the total, somewhere between 2.1 and 7.3 liang, points to one of 53 short classical verses. This page prints the whole system in English: the story, the four tables, and every one of the 53 verses.
What the weighing is
Cheng Gu (称骨, chēng gǔ) is a folk custom credited by legend to the Tang dynasty. A traditional Chinese balance weighs in liang and qian — 10 qian make 1 liang — and the custom borrows the scale as a metaphor: a fate, like anything else, can be weighed. Nothing about your body is involved; the “bones” being weighed are the four components of your birth moment.
The system has exactly three parts. Four weight tables assign a weight to the birth year (by its stem-branch name in the sixty-year cycle), the birth month, the birth day and the birth double-hour. A sum: the four weights are added, and because of how the tables are built, every possible total lands between 21 and 73 qian. And a book of 53 verses — the Bone-Weight Song, 称骨歌 — one verse for each total from 2.1 to 7.3 liang. That is the entire machine: tables, addition, poem.
One version question matters. Some folk printings circulate separate verse sets for men and women. The version in widest circulation today — the one printed on this page, and the one our Chinese-language site uses too — is a single unified table: the same weights and the same 53 verses for everyone. Where this page and other sources differ, it is usually that.
Yuan Tiangang 袁天罡 — the man behind the scale
Yuan Tiangang (袁天罡, Yuán Tiāngāng) was a historical figure of the early Tang dynasty (7th century): an astronomer and prognosticator at the imperial court, skilled in the calendar mathematics that the dynasty ran on. Men of his office computed eclipses and omens for the emperor; it was exact science and state ritual at the same time.
Legend then did what legend does. Over the following centuries Yuan's name gathered stories the way a magnet gathers filings: he is said to have read the faces of the infant Wu Zetian 武则天 — the future empress — and, with his colleague Li Chunfeng 李淳风, to have written the Tui Bei Tu 推背图, the most famous book of prophecies in Chinese. The Bone-Weight Song is attributed to him by the same folk tradition. There is no document proving he wrote it; there is also no earlier name attached to it. On this site we keep the honest formula: legend credits Yuan Tiangang — and the custom is none the worse for being a legend's gift rather than an official's.
Why did a weighing metaphor stick for a thousand years? Partly because it is democratic: anyone who can add four numbers can use it, no chart-drawing skill required. And partly because a weight is a wonderfully blunt summary — heavier verses promise fuller tables, lighter ones warn of thin years — in a culture that understood fortune as something stored, spent and carried.
How a weighing is looked up
- Year bone. Find your birth year's name in the sixty-year stem-branch cycle (干支) and take its weight from Table 1. Careful: the cycle year turns at 立春 Lìchūn (Beginning of Spring, around 4 February), not on 1 January — a January or early-February birth may belong to the previous cycle year.
- Month bone. Take the weight of your lunar birth month from Table 2.
- Day bone. Take the weight of your lunar birth day from Table 3.
- Hour bone. Take the weight of your birth double-hour (时辰, the traditional two-hour blocks) from Table 4.
- Add, then read. The sum, in qian, is your bone weight: divide by ten for liang. Find that total in the verse table below and read its verse.
A worked example. A birth in a 甲辰 Jiǎchén year (for instance 2024), on the 15th day of the 3rd lunar month, in the 午 Wǔ hour (11:00–13:00): year bone 8 qian + month bone 18 qian + day bone 10 qian + hour bone 10 qian = 46 qian = 4.6 liang. The verse for 4.6 liang reads: 东西南北尽皆通，出姓移居更觉隆；衣禄无穷无数定，中年晚景一般同。 — “East, west, south, north — all roads open; a change of name and place only adds to the rise; provision is inexhaustible, and middle and late years run as one.”
On the classical tables, month and day are lunar. The quick weigher on our home page weighs by the Gregorian month and day instead — a popular modern simplification — and says so on its face; use this page's tables when you want the classical lookup.
Table 1 — the year bone (sixty-year cycle)
The cycle repeats every 60 years; the years shown are the current cycle, 1984–2043. For an earlier birth, subtract 60 (1924–1983) and use the same row. Remember the 立春 boundary: births in January or early February may take the previous row.
| # | Year 干支 | Year in this cycle | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 甲子 JiǎZǐ | 1984 | 12 qian |
| 2 | 乙丑 YǐChǒu | 1985 | 9 qian |
| 3 | 丙寅 BǐngYín | 1986 | 6 qian |
| 4 | 丁卯 DīngMǎo | 1987 | 7 qian |
| 5 | 戊辰 WùChén | 1988 | 12 qian |
| 6 | 己巳 JǐSì | 1989 | 8 qian |
| 7 | 庚午 GēngWǔ | 1990 | 9 qian |
| 8 | 辛未 XīnWèi | 1991 | 8 qian |
| 9 | 壬申 RénShēn | 1992 | 7 qian |
| 10 | 癸酉 GuǐYǒu | 1993 | 8 qian |
| 11 | 甲戌 JiǎXū | 1994 | 15 qian |
| 12 | 乙亥 YǐHài | 1995 | 9 qian |
| 13 | 丙子 BǐngZǐ | 1996 | 16 qian |
| 14 | 丁丑 DīngChǒu | 1997 | 8 qian |
| 15 | 戊寅 WùYín | 1998 | 8 qian |
| 16 | 己卯 JǐMǎo | 1999 | 19 qian |
| 17 | 庚辰 GēngChén | 2000 | 12 qian |
| 18 | 辛巳 XīnSì | 2001 | 9 qian |
| 19 | 壬午 RénWǔ | 2002 | 8 qian |
| 20 | 癸未 GuǐWèi | 2003 | 7 qian |
| 21 | 甲申 JiǎShēn | 2004 | 5 qian |
| 22 | 乙酉 YǐYǒu | 2005 | 15 qian |
| 23 | 丙戌 BǐngXū | 2006 | 6 qian |
| 24 | 丁亥 DīngHài | 2007 | 16 qian |
| 25 | 戊子 WùZǐ | 2008 | 15 qian |
| 26 | 己丑 JǐChǒu | 2009 | 9 qian |
| 27 | 庚寅 GēngYín | 2010 | 9 qian |
| 28 | 辛卯 XīnMǎo | 2011 | 12 qian |
| 29 | 壬辰 RénChén | 2012 | 10 qian |
| 30 | 癸巳 GuǐSì | 2013 | 7 qian |
| 31 | 甲午 JiǎWǔ | 2014 | 15 qian |
| 32 | 乙未 YǐWèi | 2015 | 6 qian |
| 33 | 丙申 BǐngShēn | 2016 | 5 qian |
| 34 | 丁酉 DīngYǒu | 2017 | 14 qian |
| 35 | 戊戌 WùXū | 2018 | 14 qian |
| 36 | 己亥 JǐHài | 2019 | 9 qian |
| 37 | 庚子 GēngZǐ | 2020 | 12 qian |
| 38 | 辛丑 XīnChǒu | 2021 | 7 qian |
| 39 | 壬寅 RénYín | 2022 | 9 qian |
| 40 | 癸卯 GuǐMǎo | 2023 | 12 qian |
| 41 | 甲辰 JiǎChén | 2024 | 8 qian |
| 42 | 乙巳 YǐSì | 2025 | 7 qian |
| 43 | 丙午 BǐngWǔ | 2026 | 13 qian |
| 44 | 丁未 DīngWèi | 2027 | 5 qian |
| 45 | 戊申 WùShēn | 2028 | 14 qian |
| 46 | 己酉 JǐYǒu | 2029 | 14 qian |
| 47 | 庚戌 GēngXū | 2030 | 9 qian |
| 48 | 辛亥 XīnHài | 2031 | 17 qian |
| 49 | 壬子 RénZǐ | 2032 | 5 qian |
| 50 | 癸丑 GuǐChǒu | 2033 | 7 qian |
| 51 | 甲寅 JiǎYín | 2034 | 12 qian |
| 52 | 乙卯 YǐMǎo | 2035 | 8 qian |
| 53 | 丙辰 BǐngChén | 2036 | 8 qian |
| 54 | 丁巳 DīngSì | 2037 | 6 qian |
| 55 | 戊午 WùWǔ | 2038 | 19 qian |
| 56 | 己未 JǐWèi | 2039 | 6 qian |
| 57 | 庚申 GēngShēn | 2040 | 8 qian |
| 58 | 辛酉 XīnYǒu | 2041 | 16 qian |
| 59 | 壬戌 RénXū | 2042 | 10 qian |
| 60 | 癸亥 GuǐHài | 2043 | 6 qian |
Table 2 — the month bone (lunar month)
| Birth month (lunar) | Weight |
|---|---|
| 正月 (1st lunar month) | 6 qian |
| 二月 (2nd lunar month) | 7 qian |
| 三月 (3rd lunar month) | 18 qian |
| 四月 (4th lunar month) | 9 qian |
| 五月 (5th lunar month) | 5 qian |
| 六月 (6th lunar month) | 16 qian |
| 七月 (7th lunar month) | 9 qian |
| 八月 (8th lunar month) | 15 qian |
| 九月 (9th lunar month) | 18 qian |
| 十月 (10th lunar month) | 8 qian |
| 冬月 (11th lunar month) | 9 qian |
| 腊月 (12th lunar month) | 5 qian |
Table 3 — the day bone (lunar day)
| Birth day (lunar) | Weight |
|---|---|
| 初一 (day 1) | 5 qian |
| 初二 (day 2) | 10 qian |
| 初三 (day 3) | 8 qian |
| 初四 (day 4) | 15 qian |
| 初五 (day 5) | 16 qian |
| 初六 (day 6) | 15 qian |
| 初七 (day 7) | 8 qian |
| 初八 (day 8) | 16 qian |
| 初九 (day 9) | 8 qian |
| 初十 (day 10) | 16 qian |
| 十一 (day 11) | 9 qian |
| 十二 (day 12) | 17 qian |
| 十三 (day 13) | 8 qian |
| 十四 (day 14) | 17 qian |
| 十五 (day 15) | 10 qian |
| 十六 (day 16) | 8 qian |
| 十七 (day 17) | 9 qian |
| 十八 (day 18) | 18 qian |
| 十九 (day 19) | 5 qian |
| 二十 (day 20) | 15 qian |
| 廿一 (day 21) | 10 qian |
| 廿二 (day 22) | 9 qian |
| 廿三 (day 23) | 8 qian |
| 廿四 (day 24) | 9 qian |
| 廿五 (day 25) | 15 qian |
| 廿六 (day 26) | 18 qian |
| 廿七 (day 27) | 7 qian |
| 廿八 (day 28) | 8 qian |
| 廿九 (day 29) | 16 qian |
| 三十 (day 30) | 6 qian |
Table 4 — the hour bone (double-hour)
| Double-hour 时辰 | Clock time | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 子 Zǐ | 23:00–01:00 | 16 qian |
| 丑 Chǒu | 01:00–03:00 | 6 qian |
| 寅 Yín | 03:00–05:00 | 9 qian |
| 卯 Mǎo | 05:00–07:00 | 10 qian |
| 辰 Chén | 07:00–09:00 | 9 qian |
| 巳 Sì | 09:00–11:00 | 16 qian |
| 午 Wǔ | 11:00–13:00 | 10 qian |
| 未 Wèi | 13:00–15:00 | 8 qian |
| 申 Shēn | 15:00–17:00 | 8 qian |
| 酉 Yǒu | 17:00–19:00 | 9 qian |
| 戌 Xū | 19:00–21:00 | 6 qian |
| 亥 Hài | 21:00–23:00 | 6 qian |
The first double-hour, 子 Zǐ, straddles midnight (23:00–01:00). In the classical day count the new day begins at 23:00, which the home-page weigher follows as well.
The 53 verses — the Bone-Weight Song 称骨歌
The verses are printed whole, in Chinese, with a faithful English rendering beside each — the same texts our weighing tool uses. A word of preparation: the Tang-era tradition is blunt, and the light verses are genuinely harsh, because they were written in a world where a thin start usually did mean a thin life. Read them as historical documents first and as mirrors second; the band readings after the table are this house's modern frame for holding them.
| Total | Verse 称骨歌 | English rendering |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 liang 21 qian | 短命非业谓大空，平生灾难事重重；凶祸频临陷逆境，终世困苦事不成。 | A brief fate is called great emptiness: troubles return again and again, misfortune presses in from every side, and a lifetime of effort ends in want. |
| 2.2 liang 22 qian | 身寒骨冷苦伶仃，此命推来行乞人；劳劳碌碌无度日，终年打拱过平生。 | Cold body, cold bones, a lonely road: the beggar’s pattern in the old verse — toil without rest, bowing through the years, never a day of ease. |
| 2.3 liang 23 qian | 此命推来骨格轻，求谋作事事难成；妻儿兄弟应难许，别处他乡作散人。 | Light bones, in the old reckoning: plans are hard to bring to term, wife and kin are hard to keep near, and life is lived scattered, far from home. |
| 2.4 liang 24 qian | 此命推来福禄无，门庭困苦总难荣；六亲骨肉皆无靠，流浪他乡作老翁。 | No store of fortune in this weight: the household is hard to raise, the six relations give no support, and old age is spent wandering far from home. |
| 2.5 liang 25 qian | 此命推来祖业微，门庭营度似稀奇；六亲骨肉如冰炭，一世勤劳自把持。 | Little ancestral shade: the family enterprise is thin, kin are as ice and charcoal — together yet estranging — and all that is held is held by one’s own labour. |
| 2.6 liang 26 qian | 平生衣禄苦中求，独自营谋事不休；离祖出门宜早计，晚来衣禄自无休。 | Clothing and comfort are sought through bitterness: plans made alone and worked alone; leave the ancestral ground early, and the later years bring a steadier table. |
| 2.7 liang 27 qian | 一生作事少商量，难靠祖宗作主张；独马单枪空做去，早年晚岁总无长。 | Few consultations, few counsellors: no ancestral plan to lean on; a lone rider with a single spear — neither early nor late years run long and smooth. |
| 2.8 liang 28 qian | 一生行事似飘蓬，祖宗产业在梦中；若不过房改名姓，也当移徒二三通。 | A drifting life, like a wind-blown raft: the ancestral estate exists in dreams; unless adopted out or renamed, expect two or three removals of home. |
| 2.9 liang 29 qian | 初年运限未曾亨，纵有功名在后成；须过四旬才可立，移居改姓始为良。 | The early years do not open: whatever merit comes, comes later; past forty a footing can be established — a change of place or name marks the turn. |
| 3.0 liang 30 qian | 劳劳碌碌苦中求，东奔西走何日休；若使终身勤与俭，老来稍可免忧愁。 | Toil upon toil, seeking within bitterness: running east and west without rest; if the whole life keeps diligence and thrift, old age may yet be spared its worries. |
| 3.1 liang 31 qian | 忙忙碌碌苦中求，何日云开见日头；难得祖基家可立，中年衣食渐无忧。 | Busy, busy, seeking within bitterness — when will the clouds open on the sun? The ancestral base is hard to stand on; by middle years, food and clothing slowly cease to worry. |
| 3.2 liang 32 qian | 初年运蹇事难谋，渐有财源如水流；到得中年衣食旺，那时名利一齐收。 | The early years are knotted and hard to move; then resources begin to arrive like flowing water; by middle age the table is full — and name and profit are gathered together. |
| 3.3 liang 33 qian | 早年做事事难成，百年勤劳枉费心；半世自如流水去，后来运到始得金。 | Early efforts come to nothing, a hundred labours spent in vain; half a life flows away like water — then fortune turns, and gold arrives. |
| 3.4 liang 34 qian | 此命福气果如何，僧道门中衣禄多；离祖出家方为妙，朝晚拜佛念弥陀。 | What fortune has this fate? In robe and temple the table is provided: the religious life, left home for, fits this pattern — mornings and evenings of chanting and bells. |
| 3.5 liang 35 qian | 生平福量不周全，祖业根基觉少传；营事生涯宜守旧，时来衣食胜从前。 | A lifetime’s measure is not quite full; the ancestral root transmits little; keep to the old trade and the steady course — when the season turns, the table beats the past. |
| 3.6 liang 36 qian | 不须劳碌过平生，独自成家福不轻；早有福星常照命，任君行去百般成。 | No need to wear the years away: a household founded alone, and fortune not light; a lucky star has shone on this fate from early on — go where you will, things come to term. |
| 3.7 liang 37 qian | 此命般般事不成，弟兄少力自孤行；虽然祖业须微有，来得明时去不明。 | In this fate, undertakings miscarry; brothers give little strength and the road is walked alone; what ancestral estate exists arrives bright and leaves obscure. |
| 3.8 liang 38 qian | 一身骨肉最清高，早入簧门姓氏标；待到年将三十六，蓝衫脱去换红袍。 | The bones of this one are of the purest grade: early they enter the school gate and make the honours list; at thirty-six, the scholar’s blue robe is exchanged for the red robe of office. |
| 3.9 liang 39 qian | 此命终身运不通，劳劳作事尽皆空；苦心竭力成家计，到得那时在梦中。 | This fate’s road stays blocked to the end: labours are many and all come to emptiness; the household plan, built with a bitter heart, dissolves when reached, like a dream. |
| 4.0 liang 40 qian | 平生衣禄是绵长，件件心中自主张；前面风霜多受过，后来必定享安康。 | A lifetime’s provision is long and ample, and every matter is decided by one’s own hand; the frosts of the early road were many — afterwards, ease and health are assured. |
| 4.1 liang 41 qian | 此命推来自不同，为人能干异凡庸；中年还有逍遥福：不比前时运来通。 | This fate is cast differently: capable beyond the common run; the middle years hold a free and easy fortune — nothing like the blocked roads of before. |
| 4.2 liang 42 qian | 得宽怀处且宽怀，何用双眉皱不开；若使中年命运济，那时名利一起来。 | Where the heart can widen, let it widen — why knit the brows? If the middle years bring the turn of fate, name and profit arrive together. |
| 4.3 liang 43 qian | 为人心性最聪明，作事轩昂近贵人；衣禄一生天注定，不须劳碌是丰亨。 | The heart-and-nature here is of the keenest kind; undertakings are carried high, near honoured people; a lifetime’s provision is written by heaven — no need to toil for abundance. |
| 4.4 liang 44 qian | 万事由天莫苦求，须知福碌赖人修；当年财帛难如意，晚景欣然便不优。 | All things are heaven’s — do not bitterly demand them; know that fortune is also cultivated by the person. In youth, wealth was hard to come by as wished; the later scene is glad and free of care. |
| 4.5 liang 45 qian | 名利推求竟若何？前番辛苦后奔波；命中难养男和女，骨肉扶持也不多。 | Name and profit — what do they come to? First the bitterness, then the running about; children are hard to raise in this fate, and kin give little support. |
| 4.6 liang 46 qian | 东西南北尽皆通，出姓移居更觉隆；衣禄无穷无数定，中年晚景一般同。 | East, west, south, north — all roads open; a change of name and place only adds to the rise; provision is inexhaustible, and middle and late years run as one. |
| 4.7 liang 47 qian | 此命推求旺末年，妻荣子贵自怡然；平生原有滔滔福，可卜财源若水泉。 | This fate ripens toward the later years: an honoured partner, valued children, a heart at ease; a lifetime’s original store of blessing, with wealth flowing like a spring. |
| 4.8 liang 48 qian | 初年运道未曾通，几许蹉跎命亦穷；兄弟六亲无依靠，一生事业晚来整。 | The early road never opened; stumbles were many and the fate was straitened; brothers and kin give no support — the life’s work is put in order late. |
| 4.9 liang 49 qian | 此命推来福不轻，自成自立显门庭；从来富贵人钦敬，使婢差奴过一生。 | This fate is no light fortune: self-founded, self-established, the gate made illustrious; wealth and honour have drawn respect from of old — a life attended and served. |
| 5.0 liang 50 qian | 为利为名终日劳，中年福禄也多遭；老来自有财星照，不比前番目下高。 | For profit and for name, labouring all day; the middle years bring their share of fortune; in old age a wealth star shines of itself — nothing like the lower prospect of before. |
| 5.1 liang 51 qian | 一世荣华事事通，不须劳碌自亨通；兄弟叔侄皆如意，家业成时福禄宏。 | A lifetime of glory, everything coming through: no need to toil — ease is natural; brothers, uncles and nephews all in accord; when the family enterprise stands, fortune is vast. |
| 5.2 liang 52 qian | 一世亨通事事能，不须劳苦自然宁；宗族有光欣喜甚，家产丰盈自称心。 | A lifetime of smoothness, everything within ability: no need for hardship — peace is natural; the clan has light and joy in plenty, and a full estate answers the heart. |
| 5.3 liang 53 qian | 此格推来福泽宏，兴家立业在其中；一生衣食安排定，却是人间一福翁。 | This pattern is cast with blessing deep: founding a house and establishing a work are within it; a lifetime’s food and clothing are arranged — a true fortunate elder among men. |
| 5.4 liang 54 qian | 此格详采福泽宏，诗书满腹看功成；丰衣足食多安稳，正是人间有福人。 | This pattern, examined, is deep in blessing: a belly full of poetry and books awaits examination success; ample food and clothing, much peace — a fortunate person among men. |
| 5.5 liang 55 qian | 策马扬鞭争名利，少年作事费筹论；一朝福禄源源至，富贵荣华显六亲。 | Whipping the horse to race for name and profit: in youth, undertakings cost much scheming; then one morning fortune arrives in a stream — wealth and honour illuminate the whole kin. |
| 5.6 liang 56 qian | 此格推来礼义通，一身福禄用无穷；甜酸苦辣皆尝过，滚滚财源盈而丰。 | This pattern runs on propriety and rightness: a lifetime’s fortune, inexhaustible in use; sweet, sour, bitter, hot — all have been tasted; and wealth comes rolling in, full and abundant. |
| 5.7 liang 57 qian | 福禄丰盈万事全，一身荣耀乐天年；名扬威震人争羡，此世逍遥宛似仙。 | Fortune full and everything complete: a body in honour, delighting in its years; name raised and might admired — a life at ease, near to the immortals. |
| 5.8 liang 58 qian | 平生衣食自然来，名利双全富贵偕；金榜题名登甲第，紫袍玉带走金阶。 | A lifetime’s food and clothing arrive of themselves; name and profit both complete, wealth and honour together; the golden list bears the name — purple robe and jade belt on the golden steps. |
| 5.9 liang 59 qian | 细推此格秀而清，必定才高学业成；甲第之中应有分，扬鞭走马显威荣。 | Examined closely, this pattern is fine and clear: talent is high and study will come to term; a share in the honours list is written — whip the horse, ride out, display might and glory. |
| 6.0 liang 60 qian | 一朝金榜快题名，显祖荣宗大器成；衣禄定然无欠缺，田园财帛更丰盈。 | One morning the golden list takes the name quickly: ancestors glorified, the clan honoured, a great vessel completed; provision is certain, without lack — fields and wealth fuller still. |
| 6.1 liang 61 qian | 不作朝中金榜客，定为世上大财翁；聪明天付经书熟，名显高褂自是荣。 | If not a golden-list guest at court, then a great wealthy elder in the world: heaven-given cleverness, the classics mastered; honour is self-evident. |
| 6.2 liang 62 qian | 此命生来福不穷，读书必定显亲宗；紫衣玉带为卿相，富贵荣华孰与同。 | This fate is born with fortune unexhausted: study will surely glorify the clan; purple robe and jade belt, minister and chancellor — wealth and honour beyond compare. |
| 6.3 liang 63 qian | 命主为官福禄长，得来富贵实非常；名题雁塔传金榜，大显门庭天下扬。 | The master of this fate holds office with long fortune: the wealth obtained is truly beyond the ordinary; the name inscribed on the Wild Goose Pagoda, the golden list proclaimed — renowned under heaven. |
| 6.4 liang 64 qian | 此格威权不可当，紫袍金带尘高堂；荣华富贵谁能及？万古留名姓氏扬。 | This pattern’s power cannot be withstood: purple robe, golden belt, the dust of the high hall; wealth and honour — who can reach them? A name left for ten thousand ages. |
| 6.5 liang 65 qian | 细推此命福非轻，富贵荣华孰与争；定国安邦人极品，威声显赫震寰瀛。 | Examined closely, this fate’s fortune is not light: wealth and honour — who can contend? Settling states and securing nations, a person of the highest grade; might and fame shake the world. |
| 6.6 liang 66 qian | 此格人间一福人，堆金积玉满堂春；从来富贵有天定，金榜题名更显亲。 | This pattern is a fortunate person among men: gold heaped and jade piled, the hall full of spring; wealth and honour were always heaven-assigned — and the golden list glorifies the kin besides. |
| 6.7 liang 67 qian | 此命生来福自宏，田园家业最高隆；平生衣禄盈丰足，一路荣华万事通。 | This fate is born with fortune magnificent of itself: fields and family enterprise at their highest rise; a lifetime’s provision full and sufficient — one road of glory, everything coming through. |
| 6.8 liang 68 qian | 富贵由天莫苦求，万事家计不须谋；十年不比前番事，祖业根基千古留。 | Wealth and honour come from heaven — do not bitterly seek them; the household’s affairs need no scheming; ten years on, nothing resembles the former state: the ancestral root endures for a thousand ages. |
| 6.9 liang 69 qian | 君是人间福禄星，一生富贵众人钦；总然衣禄由天定，安享荣华过一生。 | You are a fortune-and-provision star among men: a lifetime of wealth and honour, admired by all; provision was always heaven-assigned — enjoy the glory, and pass the life in ease. |
| 7.0 liang 70 qian | 此命推来福不轻，何须愁虑苦劳心；荣华富贵已天定，正笏垂绅拜紫宸。 | This fate carries fortune not light: why worry and labour the heart? Wealth and honour are already heaven-fixed — cap straightened, sash hanging, bowing at the purple court. |
| 7.1 liang 71 qian | 此命生成大不同，公侯卿相在其中；一生自有逍遥福，富贵荣华极品隆。 | This fate is born greatly different: dukes, marquises, ministers and chancellors are within it; a lifetime has its own free fortune — wealth and honour of the highest grade. |
| 7.2 liang 72 qian | 此命推来天下隆，必定人间一主公。富贵荣华数不尽，定为乾坤一蛟龙。 | This fate is cast at the summit of the world: surely a lord among men; wealth and honour beyond counting — a true dragon between heaven and earth. |
| 7.3 liang 73 qian | 此命推来天下隆，必定人间一主公。富贵荣华数不尽，定为乾坤一蛟龙。 | This fate is cast at the summit of the world: surely a lord among men; wealth and honour beyond counting — a true dragon between heaven and earth. |
Reading a result: the seven bands
The tradition reads the 53 totals as a rising scale, and our tool summarises each stretch of it — its “band” — in modern terms. The bands, as the house reads them:
| Band | How the house reads it |
|---|---|
| 2.1–2.5 liang | The lightest weights in the table. The old verses are stern here — read them as a document of a harsher age, when a thin start usually meant a thin life. The house reading: a light starting hand raises the value of craft, alliances and timing — everything a life must then build deliberately. |
| 2.6–3.0 liang | A light-to-middle weight. The verses picture a slow start and strict self-reliance: little inherited shade, much to build. This pattern rewards early skill and late compounding. |
| 3.1–3.9 liang | A middle weight: the verses mix blocked roads with open ones — the classic "first bitter, then sweet" arc. The turn usually arrives with a change of place, trade or name. |
| 4.0–4.9 liang | A comfortable middle weight: provision is real but earned, and the verses warn against scattering it. The middle years are this pattern’s harvest season. |
| 5.0–5.9 liang | A heavy, fortunate weight: the verses promise standing, a full table, and other people’s respect — with ease as the standing temptation. Keep one hard thing in your life on purpose. |
| 6.0–6.9 liang | A very heavy weight: the verses speak of rank, honours and a name carried far — in modern terms, institutional success and public standing. The work of this pattern is stewardship. |
| 7.0–7.3 liang | The heaviest weights in the table — a handful of fates among the fifty-three. The verses reach for emperors and dragons; read them as the tradition’s way of saying: maximum endowment, maximum expectation. What such a pattern does with ordinary days decides everything. |
Heavier is not “better” in any way that excuses a person, and lighter is not a sentence; the bands describe a starting hand, and every classical text on this site is read under the same house rule: know the pattern, not the fate.
Weigh your own bones — free.
The weigher is on our home page, in the tool list as Bone Weight 称骨: enter a birth date and hour and it adds the four bones for you and shows your verse in Chinese and English. It weighs by the Gregorian month and day — the modern simplification mentioned above.
Want the fuller picture? The verse is one number; your BaZi chart is the whole pattern.
Questions, answered plainly
What does Cheng Gu 称骨 mean, literally?
“Weighing the bones.” It has nothing to do with body weight: in this old custom, your birth year, month, day and hour are each assigned a weight in liang and qian, the four are added up, and the total — always between 2.1 and 7.3 liang — selects one of 53 classical verses. The “bones” are a metaphor for the frame of a fate.
Who was Yuan Tiangang 袁天罡?
A real astronomer and court prognosticator of the early Tang dynasty (7th century), later wrapped in a thousand years of legend. Tradition credits him with the Bone-Weight Song and, together with Li Chunfeng 李淳风, with the prophetic Tui Bei Tu 推背图. The attribution of the verses is folk tradition rather than documented authorship — part of this page's subject is exactly how a historical official became a legend.
Is there one table for men and another for women?
Some folk printings do split the verses by gender. The version in widest circulation today — the one this page prints, and the one our Chinese-language site uses as well — is a single unified table: the same four weight tables and the same 53 verses for everyone.
Do I look myself up by lunar or Gregorian dates?
Classically: by the ganzhi 干支 year (which turns at Li Chun 立春, around 4 February — not on 1 January), the lunar month, the lunar day, and the double-hour of birth. The quick weigher on our home page uses the Gregorian month and day instead — a popular modern simplification — and says so on its face. This page prints the classical tables themselves.
Is bone weight fortune-telling?
We present it as folk custom and entertainment. The verses are classical texts, kept whole and translated faithfully; read them as a document of how Tang-era and later Chinese folk culture talked about a life's weight — not as a verdict on yours, and never as a basis for medical, legal or financial decisions.