The Tong Shu 2027 is the Chinese almanac for the Fire Goat year 丁未 (Dīng Wèi), and every page in it follows the same pattern: a date, a day pillar, a day officer, a clash animal and two short lists headed 宜 (yí, suitable) and 忌 (jì, to avoid). Once you can read those six items, the whole book opens up. This guide shows you how, using real entries from the 2027 data for Chinese New Year Day 1 on Saturday 6 February and Chap Goh Meh on Saturday 20 February.
I have used the almanac in my practice for many years, and I have also seen it misused just as often. A family reads that a certain day is “good for marriage” and books a banquet hall, without knowing that the same word appears on more than a third of the days in the year. So this article is as much about the limits of the Tong Shu as about its contents.
What Is the Tong Shu (and the Tung Shu)?
通书 (tōngshū) means roughly “the book that covers everything”. You will also see it spelt Tung Shu, which is the Cantonese romanisation. In Cantonese-speaking homes the book is often written 通勝 (tung sing), with 勝 meaning “to win”, because the character for “book”, 書, sounds like 輸, “to lose”, and nobody wants a losing book in the house. Hokkien, Hakka and Teochew families use the same almanac under their own pronunciations, and in Malaysia printed editions sit beside the angpao and mandarin oranges every new year.
The Tong Shu is not a fortune-telling book about you. It is a calendar of the days themselves, each one classified by the same stem-branch cycle that BaZi 八字 (bāzì) uses for people. For a wider introduction, see my Chinese fortune calendar guide or the Tong Shu page on this site.
What Each Daily Entry Contains
Here is how I read a single day, from top to bottom.
- Gregorian and lunar date. The lunar date is written as month and day, so 1-1 is the first day of the first lunar month. To see how lunar months line up with the Gregorian calendar, read my Chinese calendar 2027 reference.
- Day pillar 日柱. A stem and a branch, such as 丙辰, that cycle every sixty days. The same pair is the day pillar of anyone born that day.
- Month pillar. This follows the solar terms, not the lunar months, which is why the month in a BaZi chart does not match the month on a lunar calendar.
- Day officer 建除十二神 (jiàn chú shí’èr shén). One of twelve labels that rotate in a fixed order.
- Clash animal 冲 (chōng). The zodiac animal opposite the day’s branch.
- 宜 and 忌. The activities the day is said to favour and to avoid.
The twelve day officers
The officers run in this order: 建 Establish (Jiàn), 除 Remove (Chú), 满 Full (Mǎn), 平 Balance (Píng), 定 Stable (Dìng), 执 Initiate (Zhí), 破 Destroy (Pò), 危 Danger (Wēi), 成 Success (Chéng), 收 Receive (Shōu), 开 Open (Kāi) and 闭 Close (Bì). The sequence advances one step each day, with one exception: when a new solar month begins, the officer repeats. In 2027 that happens on 3 and 4 February, and both days carry 建.
Do not read the English words too literally. 破 Destroy does not mean disaster, and 闭 Close does not mean stagnation in every sense. The officer is one input among several, and the yi and ji lists for the day are where the practical guidance sits.
Four Real Days From the 2027 Almanac
These entries come from the 2027 data I use, computed with a calendar library from the classical almanac tables. I have translated the items plainly, and I mark where editions of the Tong Shu may differ.
Saturday 6 February: Chinese New Year Day 1
The day pillar is 丙辰, the officer is 满 Full, and the clash animal is the Dog. The yi list reads: marriage (嫁娶), the capping and hairpin coming-of-age rite (冠笄), betrothal gifts (纳采), travel (出行), meeting relatives and friends (会亲友), raising a roof beam (上梁), installing machinery (安机械), setting up a bed (安床), raising livestock (牧养), hunting (畋猎), offerings (祭祀) and prayers for blessings (祈福). The ji list reads: moving into a new home (入宅), setting up a stove (作灶), treating illness (治病), burial (安葬) and relocating (移徙).
Notice how well this fits the day. Meeting relatives and friends, travel and offerings are exactly what a Malaysian family does on Day 1. And the ji list quietly agrees with the custom of not starting big domestic changes on the first day. This is the almanac working as intended: it records the character of the day, and ordinary custom grew up around the same logic.
Sunday 14 February: Tian Gong’s birthday
Day 9, 天公誕 (Tiāngōng Dàn), is 甲子 with the officer 开 Open and the Horse as the clash animal. The yi list includes marriage, offerings, consecration of an image (开光), prayers (祈福), seeking descendants (求嗣), travel, opening a business (开市), trade (交易), signing contracts (立券), breaking ground (动土), receiving wealth (纳财) and digging a well (掘井). The ji list includes moving house (入宅), burial, felling timber (伐木), making beams (作梁), bringing in livestock (纳畜), building animal pens (造畜稠) and setting up a stove.
I include this one because it shows the distinction between a festival and an almanac day. The Hokkien prayers for the Jade Emperor are a fixed custom on the ninth day, regardless of what the almanac says about other activities.
Saturday 20 February: Chap Goh Meh
Day 15 is 庚午 with the officer 定 Stable and the Rat as the clash animal. The yi list is short: marriage, offerings, the capping rite, repairing and decorating walls and fences (修饰垣墙) and acquiring property (置产). The ji list reads: acupuncture or meridian work (经络), visiting the sick (探病), building a house (盖屋), setting up a stove and breaking ground (动土).
Short lists tell you something too. Where a day offers few suitable activities, I treat it as a day to keep simple. Chap Goh Meh is a festival and a day for lanterns and family, which suits a day on which very little construction or serious business is recommended. See my Chap Goh Meh guide for the festival itself.
Thursday 4 February: Lichun
The day pillar is 甲寅, the officer is 建 Establish, and the clash animal is the Monkey. The ji field reads 诸事不宜 (zhū shì bù yí), “nothing is suitable”. Yet the yi field in the same data still lists cutting clothes (裁衣), felling timber, making beams, receiving wealth, trade and signing contracts.
That contradiction is real, and it is why I never trust one line of an almanac in isolation. Different editions blend different source tables, and a single page can carry both. When an entry argues with itself, I do not average the two. I treat the day as quiet, avoid launching anything on it, and compare a second edition. This day also matters for another reason: it is Lichun, when the BaZi year turns at 09:46 Malaysia time. My Lichun 2027 guide explains why.
The Clash Animal Idea
The clash animal is simple geometry. The twelve branches sit on a circle, and the branch directly opposite a day’s branch is its clash. 6 February is a 辰 (Dragon) day, and the animal opposite the Dragon is the Dog. In the 2027 data, each animal is the clash animal on 30 or 31 days, so every sign meets its clash day roughly once every twelve days.
Traditionally, people born in the clash animal’s year avoid major commitments on that day, such as signing, opening, moving or starting a ceremony. It is a precaution about timing, not a prediction that something will go wrong. It also matters less for a casual day than for a big event.
Two cautions. First, the clash animal refers to the animal of your birth year, adjusted for Lichun, and the almanac does not know your birth hour or your other pillars. Second, the Dog is already one of the signs that offend Tai Sui in 2027 through the Ox-Dog-Goat punishment, so Dog people sometimes feel the clash days twice over. My Fan Tai Sui 2027 guide covers that background.
What a General Almanac Cannot See
A printed Tong Shu is written for everyone, which means it is tuned for no one. Consider what it leaves out.
- Your BaZi chart. A day that is good for the general public might clash with your day branch, bring your unfavourable element or fall in a month that weakens your chart.
- Your birth hour. Even if the day suits you, the hour matters for a ceremony.
- Two people at once. A wedding date has to work for the couple, and also for the parents who attend.
- Your purpose. The word “business” in an almanac covers a corner stall and a factory opening alike.
- The property. If the day involves your home, the annual Flying Stars and the natal chart of the house also matter, and I read them together. See my Flying Star 2027 guide for the annual stars.
The yi lists also repeat themselves. In the 2027 data, 嫁娶 (marriage) appears on 129 of 365 days, and 动土 (breaking ground) on 90. If a day merely appears on the yi list, that tells you little, because so many days do.
When a Personal Date Selection Is Worth It
For daily life, the almanac is a pleasant reference. For decisions that are expensive, public or hard to reverse, I recommend a date chosen from your own chart.
- A wedding or registration, where two charts and the families’ needs meet.
- Moving into a new home or installing the main bed or stove.
- Renovation or ground-breaking, especially anywhere near the year’s Tai Sui or Three Killings sectors.
- Opening a business or a shopfront.
- Placing an altar or consecrating a new image.
In these cases I read the couple’s or owner’s BaZi, the almanac data for the candidate days, and the direction of the property, then offer two or three workable dates rather than a single “perfect” one. Real life rarely lines up with one date, and a good date you can actually use is better than a perfect date you cannot.
Using the Tong Shu Sensibly at Home
My advice for ordinary households is modest. Check the clash animal against your family’s zodiac signs before a big gathering or an errand with legal weight. Use the yi and ji lists to choose between two otherwise equal days, not to cancel plans you cannot move. And do not let a ji line cause anxiety: the whole system rests on probabilities and traditions, not on guarantees. Browse the Chinese almanac section for daily reading, and use your own judgement for everything else.
Common Questions
Is the Tong Shu the same as the Chinese calendar? Not quite. The Chinese calendar tells you the dates, lunar months and solar terms. The Tong Shu builds on that and adds the day pillars, officers, clashes and yi/ji lists. My Chinese calendar 2027 guide covers the calendar side.
Do all editions of the Tong Shu agree? No. Different publishers draw on different traditions, and the yi/ji lists vary between editions. That is why I look at the day pillar, officer and clash first, and treat a single yi or ji line as secondary.
Can I choose my wedding date from the Tong Shu? You can shortlist days, but I would not stop there. A wedding date should be tested against both partners’ BaZi charts and the families’ schedules. If you are planning one, ask me for a proper date selection.
What should I do on my clash day? Usually nothing special. I would avoid signing major contracts, starting a renovation or opening a business on that day if you have a choice, and otherwise carry on as normal.
Why does the 4 February entry say nothing is suitable and then list activities? The data combines two traditional tables, and they do not agree on that date. I treat Lichun as a quiet day for housekeeping and prefer to compare a second edition before relying on any line.
Key Takeaways
- Every day in the Tong Shu has six parts: the date, the day pillar, the day officer, the clash animal, and the yi and ji lists.
- The twelve officers rotate in a fixed order and repeat once when a new solar month begins; in 2027 that is 3 and 4 February.
- The clash animal is the animal opposite the day’s branch. It matters mainly for the person born in that animal’s year, and mostly for important events.
- Chinese New Year Day 1 (6 February) is a Dog-clash day with 满 Full as the officer, and its yi/ji lists match ordinary festival customs.
- Yi lists repeat widely. Marriage appears on 129 of the 365 days, so being on a list tells you little.
- A general almanac cannot see your BaZi chart, your birth hour or your property. Use it for small choices, and use a personal date selection for weddings, moves and openings.
If you want a date chosen from your own chart rather than a printed page, get in touch for a consultation and I will go through your options with you.
