Northern and Southern Schools of Ziwei Doushu

Historical and Regional Development

Apr 24, 2025

Portrait of Chicasei Goyô (Wu Yong) from Water Margin by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Schools of Ziwei Doushu 紫微斗數 (purple star astrology): There seems to be two major schools: Northern and Southern. The former is said to be more suitable for STEM majors to learn, while the latter is said to be more suitable for humanities majors to learn. The Northern school is also called 四化派 (Four Transformations School). This system has less stars involved, with only a maximum of around 20 stars, instead having a greater emphasis on the movement and transformation of stars in the Ziwei Doushu chart. The Southern school is also called 三合派 (Three Combinations School). This system can have more than 100 different stars that you might have to memorize the traits of. You then get a conclusion based on the combinations of these stars in the Ziwei Doushu chart.
Texts with Tea

Ziwei Doushu (Purple Star Astrology) is a Chinese astrological system for fate calculation, historically esteemed alongside the Four Pillars (Bazi). Unlike Bazi—which is based on the solar calendar stems and branches—Ziwei Doushu uses the positions of an imagined cadre of stars (the “Ziwei” or Emperor Star and its companions) in a horoscope constructed from one’s lunar birth date. Two main lineages of Ziwei Doushu are recognized in modern practice: the Northern School, called the Si-Hua (Four Transformations) or Flying Star school, and the Southern School, called the San-He (Three Conjunctions) school. We will go over the verifiable origins of these two schools, their historical transmission, and how each took root in different regions of the Chinese-speaking world. We focus on credible historical evidence and avoid legendary attributions except where noted. We also trace how it rose and fell in popularity in comparison with other metaphysical systems (like Bazi, Qimen Dunjia, and Western astrology).

Historical Origins of Ziwei Doushu

Note: will revamp this sooner or later

Regarding the early history of Ziwei Doushu, some scholars like Ho Peng Yoke speculate it grew out of an earlier form of divination called 太乙 taiyi, after having absorbed influences from western astrology
Edward W

Folklore credits Ziwei Doushu’s creation to Lü Chunyang/Lu Dongbin, a Taoist immortal of the Tang Dynasty. Later refinements came from Chen Xiyi/Chen Tuan in the Northern Song Dynasty. Still later, Ming Dynasty scholar Luo Hongxian further developed it into its present form. However, these attributions are mostly anecdotal. No contemporary Song records actually link Chen Xiyi to astrology or fortune-telling. The real events behind the invention of Ziwei Doushu remains a mystery. Despite frequent mentions of Chen Xiyi’s name, official texts of the Song period make no mention of him engaging in such metaphysics.

The first identifiable references to Ziwei Doushu emerge in the Ming Dynasty. Notably, a compendium entitled “Ziwei Doushu Quanshu” (紫微斗數全書, Complete Book of Ziwei Doushu) is attributed to Luo Hongxian in the mid-16th century. This work, compiled around 1550 (Jiajing 29th year), shows that by the mid-1500s, the system had been codified in writing. Some believe that Luo Hongxian’s Quanshu was an effort to synthesize two previously distinct lineages of Ziwei Doushu—combining a northern tradition and a southern tradition into one volume. In other words, Luo’s book may have been the point at which the Northern (Si-Hua) method and the Southern (San-He) method were first consolidated side by side in a single text. There is even a hypothesis (albeit not proven) that Luo received a secret manuscript from Mount Hua (the legendary hiding place of Chen Xiyi’s teachings), then expanded it with additional material and popular astrological concepts of his time. Whether or not Luo Hongxian was truly the “architect” of the Southern school, his name is firmly etched with bringing Ziwei Doushu out of the shadows and into written form.

The oldest surviving printed book on Ziwei Doushu dates slightly after Luo’s time: the Ziwei Doushu Jielan (紫微斗數捷覽, “Handy Survey of Ziwei Doushu”) was published in 1581 by a Nanjing bookseller. This indicates that by the late 16th century, Ziwei Doushu was not only compiled but also being disseminated commercially in some form. The Ming dynasty thus marks a shift from what had likely been secret manuscript transmission to printed circulation.

Historical evidence shows that Ziwei Doushu material existed in (at least) two strata: a simpler method often called the “Daozang Ziwei Doushu” or Ce Tian Shiba Feixing (策天十八飛星, “Surveying Heaven 18 Flying Stars”), and the other more elaborate system that became the basis of the later Southern school. The Daozang version, named for its inclusion in the Daoist Canon (first recorded in the Wanli Xu Daozang, 1607), used a basic set of 18 stars and a method of “flying” four transformational stars, as would become the basis in the Northern school. This 18-star method appears to have been in circulation among folk practitioners by the late Ming. For example, a popular novel in the late 17th century features a fortune-teller using the “18 Flying Stars” technique to read a client’s fate. A character named “Di Xichen” performs a Ziwei Doushu reading—note how “Di Xichen” is Chen Xiyi’s name in reverse, a nod acknowledging Chen as the system’s builder in popular imagination. Meanwhile, the expanded system—containing a larger number of stars and more complex chart factors—is what was presented in the latter volumes of Luo Hongxian’s Quanshu. This expanded Southern system might not have fully existed as a standalone method until Luo (or even after him), since no trace of a “full Ziwei system” text is found in sources before the Ming. Reading Qing-era records would suggest that throughout the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the only widely recognized Ziwei Doushu material was the 18-star (Northern) method; references to the richer Southern-style content in pre-20th-century literature are scarce. This fact implies that the Southern school’s teachings likely crystallized in the Ming-Qing transition, not reaching popular appeal until much later.

For most of its history, Ziwei Doushu was not a widely practiced art among the general populace. It was an esoteric art, and it lacked explanatory materials that allowed easy learning. It also became closely held by the imperial astronomers as a court secret. During the Ming and Qing, Ziwei Doushu was reportedly used exclusively by the Bureau of Astronomy for the Emperor’s use. Ordinary people and even most learned astrologers did not have access to it, and using it outside authorized circles may have been forbidden. By contrast, the simpler Bazi (Four Pillars) system, refined earlier (Tang-Song period) by masters like Li Xu Zhong and Xu Ziping, was openly taught and became the mainstream fate calculation method. Bazi had a more straightforward theoretical basis in yin-yang and Five Elements, which made it easier to learn and rationalize. Ziwei Doushu’s heavy use of symbolic stars and cryptic techniques made it harder to explain without guidance. Thus for centuries, Ziwei Doushu took a backseat to Bazi such that from the late imperial era right till the mid-20th century, Bazi was nearly synonymous with Chinese fate-reading. Ziwei Doushu would survive only in small communities, passed down in single lineages or handwritten manuals. It wasn’t until after World War II and the civil war that Ziwei Doushu began to trickle out to the broader public. Masters only started teaching Ziwei Doushu openly in the second half of the 20th century, breaking with the tradition of secrecy.

The Northern and Southern Schools

When Ziwei Doushu was revived in modern times, two broad approaches or “schools” appeared. These came to be known as the Northern School (Si-Hua Pai) and Southern School (San-He Pai). Despite the geographic names, these are primarily methodological distinctions. The namings are no accident, since the Southern-style teaching did flourish first in South China, and the Northern-style was later emphasized by teachers in North China and elsewhere. Key differences emerge:

Southern School (San-He Pai): characterized by an emphasis on full star complements and classical configurations. A Southern school Ziwei Doushu chart uses the complete ensemble of stars found in the historic compendium—traditionally, 14 major stars (紫微, 天機, 太陽, 武曲, 天同, 廉貞, 貪狼, 巨門, 天相, 天梁, 七殺, 破軍, plus 左輔, 右弼) along with dozens of auxiliary stars (so-called A, B, C rank stars totaling well over 100 symbols in some versions). Southern practitioners focus on the “格局” (patterns or configurations) formed by these stars. The interpretive style is rich in symbolism: stars are often personified or associated with folklore figures to convey their nature (for example, the star Tian Ji—a wisdom star—is likened to the strategist Jiang Ziya, and the star Tan Lang—a desire star—is compared to Daji, the beautiful concubine in Zhou dynasty lore)fjm.tw. There is less emphasis on the mathematical flying of star influences and more on static chart analysis, combinations, and holistic judgment of the chart’s pattern. The term “San-He” (Three Harmony) comes from the way some stars and houses form harmonious triplicities in the chart, a concept borrowed from other Chinese metaphysical arts. In practice, Southern school readings often involve detailed storytelling and analogies, aligning with an empirical, case-based tradition—many interpretations are memorized from classical verses or derived from historical case studies, an approach sometimes called the “verification school” (占验派) because of its stress on verifying outcomes against established examples. This makes the Southern style more intuitive and narrative. It can yield very concrete, specific predictions, but mastering it requires learning the characteristics and interplay of many stars (often via rote learning of classical descriptions).
Northern School (Si-Hua Pai): The Northern approach streamlines the chart to focus on 18 principal stars and, crucially, the Si Hua—four types of star transformations. In Northern-style Ziwei Doushu, certain traditional stars like Qingyang (擎羊) and Tuoluo (陀羅), which are malefic “sha” stars, are omitted entirely, and the core analysis revolves around the 14 major stars plus 4 transformations. The term “Si-Hua” means “Four Transformations”: these are four modifiers (化祿 Lù, 化權 Quán, 化科 Kē, 化忌 Jì) that each major star can emit, affecting the palace (house) that they “fly to.” The Northern method is sometimes called the “Flying Star school” (Fei Xing Pai) because one “flies” these transformational influences across the 12 palaces of the chart in a specific algorithmic waylucidchateau.blogspot.comfjm.tw. This method is more formulaic: it involves performing a sequence of calculations (sometimes described as “jumping four times” to apply all four transformations) for the chart. Northern charts also use a simplified progression system: typically only the natal chart, the major fate periods (decades), and the annual (year) chart are analyzed—monthly and daily cycles are often not used in the traditional Northern method. This pared-down approach means that the Northern school deals with fewer symbols, but adds layers of analysis through the dynamic Si Hua interactions. This approach emphasizes deduction and internal consistency over sheer number of variables. Northern school teachers stress deriving meaning from the relative positions and mathematical relations of the stars (the “imagery” of how transformations connect palaces), rather than relying on the mythological identities of each star. The Northern style thus has a reputation for being more theoretically demanding: students must grasp an almost algebraic system of transformations, which can be a barrier for some. One classical teacher notes that slower students often “get lost in the flying star calculations,” joking that their charts end up as mere “flower patterns” with no clear result. Those who favor Northern Ziwei Doushu claim that it is closer to the original form used by imperial astrologers and that it strips away later accretions, yielding a purer and more internally consistent system.

Both schools ultimately aim to analyze the same life factors (the twelve palaces of destiny, career, marriage, etc.), and a skilled practitioner from either school can give a comprehensive reading. For a long time, there wasn’t even a conscious division: pre-modern astrologers would not explicitly say “I practice Southern style” or “Northern style.” These lineages are modern conventions that arose when teachers in the 20th century began comparing notes and teaching openly. As one historian of Ziwei Doushu put it, prior to the 1980s,

Ziwei Doushu was just Ziwei Doushu

there were no explicit sectarian labels, and very few people knew it well enough to differentiate approaches.

Only when multiple masters started publishing and teaching did the distinctions become salient. In its rules and mechanics, the Southern school today reflects the fully developed form of Ziwei Doushu as documented in the Qing-era sources, while the Northern school reflects the leaner form (18-star with four transforms) that traces back to the Ming Daozang manuscript. Many modern practitioners study both to enrich their understanding.

Transmission and Regional Adoption Across China

Taiwan: Early Revival and Flourishing of the Southern School

Taiwan was one of the first places where Ziwei Doushu re-emerged openly after World War II. In the aftermath of the civil war, many mainland academics, mystics, and government officials relocated to Taiwan. Among these were individuals knowledgeable in traditional astrology. By the 1960s, Taiwan already had a nascent Ziwei Doushu scene. The earliest known professional Ziwei Doushu practitioners in Taiwan date to this period—in northern Taiwan, Yan Ruotang (嚴若唐), Zhu Shanshou (朱山寿), and Kang Guodian (康国典) were noted as the most famous names in Ziwei circles of the early 1960s. Yan and Zhu were actually civil servants by occupation and practiced Ziwei Doushu only as a hobby, while Master Kang in Banqiao-shi ran a dedicated fate-calculation clinic, making him likely the only one of the three making a living solely from Ziwei readings at that time.

The first modern publication of a Ziwei Doushu classic text happened in February 1966, when a retired military officer named Chen Yueqi (陳岳琦) produced a photocopy edition of an old Ziwei Doushu manual. The book he published was titled “Combined 18 Flying Stars Celestial Survey Ziwei Doushu Complete Compilation” (《合并十八飞星策天紫微斗数全集》), which was a Qing dynasty woodblock print that included both the Daozang 18-star method and the later extended content (hence “combined”). This 1966 printing by the Shenzhou Publishing Company marks the first time a complete Ziwei Doushu text (from the Qing imperial archives) was made available to the general public in modern Chinese society. Before, one could only learn Ziwei Doushu if one had access to a hand-copied manuscript or apprenticeship. Chen’s book was not a high-quality edition, relying on a crude woodblock print. Chen also removed the original cover and colophon from his copy to obscure the Qing provenance, claiming that it was a Song dynasty original from his family collection. Skeptics have pointed out that if it truly were a Ming or Song edition, he would likely have sold it as a valuable antiquarian item, which he did not. A better edition of the same Quanshu was published by Jiwen Publishing in Taipei with clearer print.

Around the same time, a distinct lineage of Ziwei Doushu made its way to Taiwan from Japan. In 1966, Zhang Yaowen (張耀文), a Fujian native with a Master’s degree in economics, traveled to Japan for academic lectures [insert economics is astrology + Fujian native joke here]. Zhang was also an avid student of metaphysics, claiming to be the 13th-generation heir of a lineage he called the “Mingcheng Pai”, better known as “Tou Pai” (透派). This Tou Pai Ziwei Doushu had some unique features—notably, adjustments for birth hours across solar terms (“passing the节气”) to account for seasonal changes, a method analogous to certain Japanese and Hong Kong techniques called the “Heaven-Earth-Man” triple chart. In Japan, Zhang Yaowen befriended Sato Rokuryu (佐藤六龍), a Japanese sinologist on occult arts, and together they encouraged Ziwei Doushu and other Chinese divination (like Ziping Bazi, Liu Ren, and Qimen Dunjia) in the Japanese occult community. By 1967, Zhang returned to Taiwan, bringing with him the Tou Pai teachings and actively spreading them there. This stimulated an exchange of astrological knowledge between Taiwan and Japan. Japanese authors such as Abe Takemasa (阿部泰山) had written extensively on Ziwei Doushu (in Japanese, based on earlier Chinese sources), and some of these works were translated into Chinese in Taiwan during the 1970s. Abe’s works in particular became popular in Taiwanese metaphysical circles. The Tou Pai lineage itself is of uncertain historicity. It claims origins in a Ming dynasty female astrologer, Mei Suxiang, but no reliable records of such a person or a “Tou Pai” school exist before the 20th century. Most likely, Tou Pai was a Republican-era creation, perhaps a rebranding of Ziwei Doushu techniques with some novel twists. Nonetheless, Zhang Yaowen’s efforts had a tangible impact: they helped kickstart a serious enthusiasm for Ziwei Doushu in Taiwan by the early 1970s.

By the 1980s, Taiwan was experiencing a full-fledged Ziwei Doushu renaissance. Many Ziwei Doushu books were published in Taiwan in the late 70s and 80s, ranging from reprints of classics to new explanations and instructional guides. Authors like Chen Xinyi, Yu Cheng-Huang, Lin Zhongxian, and others put out works on Ziwei Doushu. The Southern school approach was predominant in these publications (given that they often drew from the complete compendium), but they also discussed variants like the Tou Pai method or personal innovations. Taiwanese newspapers and magazines even ran columns on Ziwei Doushu, bringing what was once an arcane art to a mass audience. This boom in literature did two things cemented Taiwan’s reputation as a hub of Ziwei Doushu knowledge, and it directly influenced neighboring regions—especially Hong Kong—by exporting books and expertise.

Taiwan’s environment in the late 20th century was quite open to diverse metaphysical practices: Bazi and Feng Shui masters were active, and new age ideas like Western astrology were also trickling in. Ziwei Doushu had to compete in a sense with these other systems. Taiwanese fortune-tellers would employ multiple methods. For instance, a consultation might include a Ziwei chart reading and a Bazi analysis, and perhaps a Feng Shui evaluation for the client’s house. Each system had its niche: Bazi was seen as more accessible and was commonly taught in basic courses. Ziwei Doushu offered a more detailed, personality-focused reading (some describe Ziwei as akin to a full natal chart interpretation, whereas Bazi gives a skeletal outline). Qimen Dunjia, while respected, was generally used for selecting auspicious timings or answering specific questions, not for a person’s life destiny breakdown. Western astrology gained a youth following (Sun-sign horoscopes became popular in magazines), but remained more of a pop-culture interest. Among serious destiny consultants in Taiwan, Western astrology never overtook Ziwei or Bazi; it was sometimes incorporated as a supplementary perspective. By the end of the 20th century, Taiwan had a rich ecosystem of fate calculation methods, with Ziwei Doushu (largely Southern school) firmly entrenched as a key approach.

Hong Kong and South China: Dissemination and Diversification

Hong Kong’s encounter with Ziwei Doushu came slightly later than Taiwan’s, but Hong Kong would become a crucial crossroads for mixing different schools and further popularizing the art. Up until the early 1980s, Ziwei Doushu was almost unknown to the general public in Hong Kong. Fortune-telling in Hong Kong through the 1950s–70s was dominated by palmistry, face reading, and Bazi (four pillars) readings, methods that street astrologers and masters found approachable for a largely working-class clientele. Ziwei Doushu, being more complicated, was scarcely practiced publicly. Looking back to the period before the mid-1980s, Hong Kong researchers could only identify two individuals who were known to publicly offer Ziwei Doushu consultations: one went by the nickname “軍師吳用” (“Strategist Wu Yong,” a nickname referencing a clever strategist character from classical literature), and the other was Mr. Li Junping. These two elders were essentially lone specialists; “Wu Yong” even had a peculiar style of printing his Ziwei charts using a set of custom rubber stamps for each Chinese character, an unusually artisanal approach in the time before computers. Aside from these, Ziwei Doushu was virtually invisible in Hong Kong’s metaphysical market. There were, however, likely a few aficionados studying it privately—some might have acquired manuscripts or, later on, those 1960s Taiwanese photo-reprint books.

The catalyst for Hong Kong was the influx of Ziwei Doushu knowledge from Taiwan in the 1980s. As mentioned, Taiwan’s publishing boom meant that by the mid-80s, bookstores in Hong Kong and South China began to carry numerous Ziwei Doushu titles imported from Taiwan. Hong Kong readers eagerly bought these to learn the art. Around the same time, some Taiwanese Ziwei experts visited Hong Kong to give lectures or even settle. Hong Kong’s youth and literati, hungry for new knowledge, took to Ziwei Doushu as a fashionable and intellectual pursuit. Thus Hong Kong saw a sudden surge of interest in 1984–1985, where Ziwei Doushu almost went from obscurity to trend. One Hong Kong commentator noted that Hong Kong’s popularization of Ziwei Doushu was “not unrelated” to Taiwan—it was Taiwan’s books and materials that “deeply influenced” Hong Kong people and kick-started the local movement.

By the late 1980s, a number of Hong Kong practitioners themselves became authors and teachers of Ziwei Doushu, further spreading the art. With this came the emergence of distinct Hong Kong schools or adaptations. A particularly famous (and controversial) figure was Wang Tingzhi (王亭之). Wang was a prolific writer who had an earlier background in other fields (he was known to dabble in literature and had a pen name “Kar Lung”). In the 1980s he turned to metaphysics and started writing about Ziwei Doushu, but he did so with a flair for showmanship: he claimed to be the heir of a “Zhongzhou Pai” (中州派, “Central Plains school”) of Ziwei Doushu, allegedly a secret lineage from Luoyang (the “Central” old capital of China). According to Wang, a master from mainland China had initiated him into this lineage which had its own unique doctrines. To substantiate these claims, Wang Tingzhi took an interesting step: he published a book called “Qintianjian Miji” (欽天監秘笈, “Secret Manual of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau”). This book was presented as if it were a long-lost Qing dynasty manual from the imperial stargazers, which Wang, as a true lineage holder, was now revealing with commentary. In reality, what he published was largely a set of lecture notes from an earlier master, Lu Binzhao, which Wang had managed to obtain. Lu Binzhao’s mimeographed notes had been circulating in Hong Kong—one could even buy them at a Mong Kok street bookstall in the 1970s for HK$18. They were not an official Qing secret but simply a teacher’s teaching materials. Wang Tingzhi annotated the notes heavily, added his own theories. by publishing them as Qintianjian Miji, he effectively established himself as an expert of a special branch (Zhongzhou). One hallmark of Wang’s Zhongzhou school was the concept of “Heaven, Earth, and Man Plates”, casting three slightly shifted Ziwei charts for each person (using three different reference longitudes for the birth time: one standard, one slightly earlier, one slightly later) to account for uncertainty or “fuzzy” birth times. He claimed that ancient sages used this triple-chart method. Knowledgeable historians point out that this idea is Wang’s own creative extrapolation—classical texts do not mention splitting the chart into three layers for an individual. As one critic put it,

the introduction of Heaven-Earth-Man charts is “most absurd” historically, as ancient astronomers would not lack confidence to that extent, and no classical source supports such a division.

Wang likely devised it to address the tricky problem of birth time accuracy while also differentiating his school. Zhongzhou gained a following in Hong Kong during the 1990s, and Wang’s books sold widely. Hong Kong’s Ziwei Doushu scene thus didn’t just import knowledge, but innovated and even mythologized new lineages to captivate students.

Apart from Wang, there were other notable Hong Kong Ziwei masters: some leaned more towards the Northern/Si-Hua approach, teaching the Flying Star method in detail, and may have had direct knowledge handed down from mainland teachers. Others fully embraced the Southern approach from Taiwan, teaching classes using the full 108-star system and traditional interpretation. There was also an Empirical school (占验派) in Hong Kong—essentially practitioners who emphasized proven case studies and predictions, downplaying theoretical purity in favor of whatever “worked” for making accurate readings. By the 1990s, one could find a spectrum of Ziwei Doushu offerings in Hong Kong: from bookstore manuals, to newspaper horoscope-style Ziwei writeups, to professional consultants combining Ziwei with other methods.

In the broader South China region beyond Hong Kong, Ziwei Doushu’s uptake mirrored Hong Kong’s to some extent. Guangdong province likewise saw a rise in Ziwei Doushu interest in the 80s and 90s as well thanks to influence from Hong Kong and widespread Traditional Chinese literacy. Cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen eventually had their own Ziwei study groups. Historically, Guangdong had famous astrologers, but they mostly used Bazi or palmistry. Ziwei came in as a “new import” during the reform era. Fujian had an early connection through Zhang Yaowen taking Fujian-origin ideas to Taiwan. By the time those ideas filtered back, Fujian was also absorbing the mainstream Southern school content from Taiwan. It’s worth noting that Hong Kong and Cantonese regions also had exposure to Western astrology due to British colonial influence, and by the 1980s Hong Kong had some Western astrology societies and publications. However, these remained quite separate from Chinese Ziwei practice. Rarely would a traditional Chinese astrologer in Hong Kong use Western astrology in client work. The two systems coexisted, appealing to different audiences. If anything, Western sun-sign astrology and Feng Shui were more popular with the general public, which relegated the deeper arts like Ziwei Doushu remained a specialty for enthusiasts. Feng Shui masters in Hong Kong often overshadowed astrologers in media fame, since businesses sought Feng Shui advice for immediate prosperity. For personal fates, however, Ziwei Doushu and Bazi remained the go-to methods.

By the turn of the millennium, Hong Kong and South China had contributed significantly to the diversification of Ziwei Doushu schools. Hong Kong students would explicitly ask whether a course was teaching “Flying Star 18-star method” or the “full Ziwei system”. In effect, the South China region became a melting pot: Taiwanese Southern school materials, local Hong Kong innovations (like Zhongzhou), and a rekindling interest in the Northern school (as some sought to strip back to the historically documented core) all converged.

Northern China: Late Awakening and Research-Based Approach

Ziwei Doushu’s Northern School remains a niche pursuit across Northern China, with pockets of professional and amateur activity but nowhere near the mass popularity of Bazi. In Beijing, it has institutional legitimacy through Daoist temples and university seminars, while Kaifeng in Henan hosts an informal amateur community sharing charts and case studies. In Hebei and Shanxi, local training classes occasionally pop up, often as part of broader “Four Pillars” or Feng Shui workshops. Inner Mongolia shows evidence of weekend crash courses and local practitioners advertising via Bilibili. Across these provinces, Bazi (Four Pillars) overwhelmingly dominates popular fate-reading, and Ziwei Doushu (Northern style) tends to be learned by committed students seeking depth or by professional diviners offering a specialized service.

Even in regions where Ziwei Doushu is taught, Bazi (Four Pillars) remains the ubiquitous choice for casual clients and street fortune-tellers. Bazi has been the mainstream fate-calculation method since the Tang-Song, due to its straightforward yin-yang and wuxing framework and ease of teaching, whereas Ziwei’s symbolic stars and Si-Hua algorithms require more intensive study. As a result, Northern-style Ziwei Doushu in the actual non-rice-growing north is practiced predominantly by serious students, academic researchers, and professional diviners seeking to differentiate their services, rather than by mass-market street astrologers.

Historical Overview

In Beijing, Tianjin, and the central plains, Ziwei Doushu faced a unique situation in the 20th century. After 1949, the new government disapproved of divination as “feudal superstition,” pushing practices like Ziwei Doushu underground. For roughly three decades (1950s-1970s), open practice of astrology was banned. During this hiatus, the knowledge was nearly lost in the mainland—very few people, mostly elderly experts or those who had been in the Nationalist army’s astrology units, retained anything of Ziwei Doushu. Indeed, a review of history finds that during the entire Qing dynasty (1644–1911), and up through the Republican era and Mao era, we have scant record of any public Ziwei Doushu fortune-tellers in North China. It was essentially absent from the folk culture, unlike Bazi which was always common. This means that when China began to relax restrictions in the 1980s, Ziwei Doushu had to be re-introduced almost from scratch.

The initial re-introduction came through two channels: Hong Kong/Taiwan imports and academic research. From the late 1980s onward, Chinese scholars in fields like history of astronomy and folklore started to show interest in these traditional arts as part of cultural heritage. Ziwei Doushu, with its links to imperial astronomy, attracted some scholarly attention. For example, researchers collected copies of the Qing dynasty Daozang Ziwei Doushu (the 18-star method text) from libraries (such as copies in the Qing Imperial collection or Daoist canon) and republished or analyzed them. In Beijing, the National Library and other archives held the Wanli and Siku Quanshu versions of Ziwei texts. By publishing articles and explanatory notes, these scholars made the technical content available to a small circle of interested readers (often through academic journals or internally circulated papers). This effectively spread knowledge of the Northern-style, classical Ziwei Doushu among Northern enthusiasts, because the Daozang 18-Flying-Star method was the one documented in those sources. It appealed especially to those who valued a historically “authentic” approach and a more rational method—traits in line with the Northern school ethos.

At the same time, the mainland opened to trading and media, so Hong Kong and Taiwan books began to enter (legally or grey markets). By the 1990s, one could find photocopied Ziwei Doushu books from Taiwan in some mainland bookstores, especially in coastal provinces and big cities. Metaphysical bookshops, often state-run cultural bookstores with a “fortune telling” shelf, carried titles by Hong Kong and Taiwanese authors. Thus, the Southern school content also seeped into Northern China, often in traditional Chinese characters which avid readers could still parse. The combination of these influences meant that by the mid-1990s, a new generation of Northern Chinese practitioners was emerging, having taught themselves from all available materials.

One notable development in the mainland was a sort of “hybrid” approach: some mainland teachers attempted to reconcile the Northern and Southern methods, or teach both in parallel to give students a comprehensive toolkit. Others took a more partisan stance, championing one as superior. For instance, some Beijing instructors touted the Flying Star (Si-Hua) method as the orthodox one (sometimes referencing how the Qing palace astrologers only used those 18 stars), implicitly suggesting that the Southern system was an embellished folk version. On the other hand, there were Northern enthusiasts of the Southern school who eagerly consumed every new volume of Taiwanese Ziwei research to refine their practice.

In terms of popularity relative to other systems: even by the 2000s, Ziwei Doushu in Northern China remained less widely known than Bazi. Bazi has an enormous cultural penetration—almost every fortune-teller on the street can do a Bazi reading, and many laypeople know their “eight characters” as a matter of course. Ziwei Doushu, with its need for complex charts (traditionally drawn by hand or with specialized calculators), became more accessible in the computer age (software and online chart generators helped a lot), but is still considered a more advanced art. For a typical consumer in Northern China seeking a fate reading, Bazi or even Ziwei–Bazi comparisons might be offered. It’s common now for practitioners to use both: Bazi for broad strokes, Ziwei for detail. Qimen Dunjia in the North has had a revival as well, but usually only for answering specific questions like horary astrology or the yi jing, rather than giving a life narrative. Western astrology gained a foothold mostly in cosmopolitan circles, with astrologers in the 2000s having begun offering Western natal chart services, but this remains a separate scene from the Chinese mingshu (destiny study) scene. Western astrology appeals more to younger urbanites and is seen more as personality analysis, whereas Ziwei Doushu is deeply tied into Chinese cultural notions of fate, fortune cycles, and karma, appealing to those who trust traditional concepts. In North China, the vast majority of the populace remains more familiar with the Chinese zodiac (shengxiao) and Bazi as astrological tools. Ziwei Doushu is climbing in awareness but remains something you’d typically learn about through dedicated study or through a serious hobbyist or professional.

Beijing & Tianjin: Institutional Practice

Beijing’s Northern School practice is anchored in its ties to official Daoist institutions and academic study. Zhengyi Dao temples and the Institutional Diviners’ Association endorse the Flying-Star (Si-Hua) method, often citing its inclusion in the Ming Daozang as proof of orthodoxy. Major cultural centers in Tianjin and the Beijing suburbs frequently host Northern-style Ziwei Doushu courses as part of Feng Shui or “Traditional Culture” curricula. For example, the Beijing Feng Shui Society lists multi-week Ziwei Doushu programs covering the 14 main stars, configurations, and the four transformations. Thus formalized training exists, though aimed at enthusiasts and Feng Shui professionals rather than the general public.

Henan & Kaifeng: Amateur Communities

In Kaifeng, Ziwei Doushu survives mainly as an amateur art. Local enthusiasts share charts in private salons and online forums, combining the Northern School’s 18 Flying-Star method with case-study discussions. These gatherings are informal but sustained by a dedicated circle of hobbyists in the city’s historic quarters.

Elsewhere in Henan, occasional one-off workshops appear at cultural festivals or in county folk-art centers, often under the banner of “Traditional Astrology” alongside Bazi and Qimen Dunjia demonstrations. These sessions introduce Ziwei’s basic palace structure and the Si-Hua algorithm to small audiences.

Hebei & Shanxi: Occasional Training and Local Media

Local Shanxi media occasionally publish introductory articles on Ziwei Doushu. A 2024 Sohu article from Shanxi-sheng outlines the basic chart setup and notes the Northern School’s emphasis on the four transformations, suggesting that interest exists at least among online readers seeking foundational tutorials.

In Hebei’s larger cities (e.g., Shijiazhuang, Tangshan), adult-education centers sometimes offer Ziwei Doushu modules as part of broader “Chinese Metaphysics” certificates. These courses are often bundled with palmistry and face reading, indicating that Ziwei is one element of a composite curriculum rather than a standalone craze.

Inner Mongolia & Northeast: Online and In-Person Crash Courses

Bilibili videos by an Inner Mongolia practitioner (“小梁”) shows a weekend intensive training covering palace placement, star identification, and four-star flying methods—evidence of small-scale, local face-to-face instruction in Hohhot and Ordos.

Platforms like 神机阁 list Ziwei Doushu charting services and tutorials for all provinces, including Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Anhui, and beyond, implying that Northern-style software tools and remote teaching extend the school’s reach across China’s north and northeast.

Final word

By the 2010s and into the 2020s, Ziwei Doushu has firmly taken root across Greater China, but with interesting regional flavors: Taiwan continues to innovate and produce new interpretations (often Southern school in style, though there are Taiwan lineages of Flying Star as well, such as Master Chen Hsin’s lineage). Hong Kong and Southern China serve as a bridge and melting pot, with a tendency to produce charismatic authors who sometimes create “new” schools (as we saw with Zhongzhou). Northern China, catching up, has injected a more research-driven and theoretical perspective, with Northern school ideas enjoying a revival of prestige thanks to the focus on classical texts. Across all regions, Bazi remains a friendly rival, with many debates held in print or seminars on whether Bazi or Ziwei is more “accurate” or superior, akin to martial artists debating styles. The consensus among experienced masters is that each system has its strengths, and they complement more than compete. Bazi is simpler and rooted in the well-known yin-yang Five Elements theory, making it very teachable, while Ziwei Doushu offers a more granular and picturesque analysis, excelling in areas like psychological insight and specific event timing. Some say Ziwei Doushu is like using a telescope to zoom into a life, whereas Bazi is like looking at the broad outlines—both views are valuable. It is not uncommon for a client in, say, Guangzhou or Taipei today to receive both a Ziwei reading and a Bazi reading from the same consultant, ensuring nothing is missed. Meanwhile, methods like Qimen Dunjia or Western astrology add specialized insight (Qimen for strategic decision-making, Western astrology for personality and compatibility), but none has truly overtaken Ziwei Doushu within its domain of destiny analysis, especially now that Ziwei Doushu has been so richly developed by both the Northern and Southern schools.

Viator in Terra

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