In this post, we are going to describe how Tung Shing (Chinese divination guide and almanac) is being used to search for a suitable date to perform an event in Chinese culture.
There are many different version of Tung Shing by different publishers, however we use the Tung Shing by “廣經堂”, one of the most popular Tung Shing in Hong Kong as a reference. We assumed that you have got one copy of Tung Shing “廣經堂” and have some Chinese language background because the book is in Chinese.
Tung Shing is a Chinese divination guide and almanac which contains date of the year in the lunar calendar and determine suitable and unsuitable events to perform in each day of the lunar year in order to get the best result of it. Example such as determine the best result of certain event such as wedding, opening a business, ask for a blessing from a god, leave the country etc.
Here are some of the common events included in the Tung Shing for reference:
Event table
| Event Name in Chinese | Event Name in English |
| 嫁娶 | To get marry |
| 祭祀 | Sacrifice ceremony |
| 理髮 | To have a hair dressing |
| 會友 | To have a friend meeting |
| 出行 | To travel |
| 開市 | First day of business |
| 入宅 | Move to a new house |
| 動土 | Perform any work on the ground |
| 拆卸 | Disassemble (normally refer to building, parts of building or furniture) |
| 安床 | Install a bed |
| 掃舍 | Clean the house |
| 納畜 | To have a new pet/animal |
| 安葬 | Burial |
| 移居 | Migration |
| 捕捉 | Hunt/Catch animal |
| 交易 | To trade |
| 立約 | To sign a contract |
| 入學 | Start school/study |
| 訂婚 | To get engaged |
| 栽種 | To plant |
| 作灶 | To install cooker |
| 醫病 | To see a doctor |
To search for a suitable date and to avoid an unsuitable date in the year of tiger 2022, you need to search for the section of “廣經堂壬寅年曆書” which normally is the last section of the Tung Shing. Within the section, we need to look at the left edge of each page for the lunar month which you are planning to perform the event.
Here is the translation of the lunar months in Chinese and English:
| Lunar Month in English | Lunar Month in Chinese |
| The first month of the year | 正月 |
| The second month of the year | 二月 |
| The third month of the year | 三月 |
| The forth month of the year | 四月 |
| The fifth month of the year | 五月 |
| The six month of the year | 六月 |
| The seventh month of the year | 七月 |
| The eighth month of the year | 八月 |
| The ninth month of the year | 九月 |
| The tenth month of the year | 十月 |
| The eleventh month of the year | 十一月 |
| The twelve month of the year | 十二月 |
In the section “廣經堂壬寅年曆書” , once you have found the lunar month, you will see the tables of information of all the date of that month. The first row is the date and weekday of the Lunar month in Chinese. Each column of the table contains the information of the corresponding date of the month. However to make it simple, you need only focusing on 2 rows of the table which they determine if the event is suitable or not to perform on that date:
- The forth row with the Chinese character “忌” meaning that all of the events underneath that character should be avoid to perform on that date.
- The sixth row with the Chinese character “宜” meaning that all of the events underneath that character is suitable to perform on that date.
- if you cannot find the event at that column meaning that the event is neutral on that date.
You can determine if the event is suitable or should be avoid on that date based with the rule above.
If you need a copy of Tung Shing, you could purchase at our store: