How the Chinese Gender Calendar Works
The chart, known as 清宫图 (Qīnggōng tú) or "Qing Palace Chart," is a lookup table with the mother's lunar age on one axis and the lunar month of conception on the other. Legend traces it to the Qing dynasty court, where eunuchs were said to guard it for imperial consorts. Historians doubt the origin story, but the chart itself has circulated in Chinese sources for generations and remains one of the most-asked-about tools in Chinese folk culture.
Why lunar age, not your real age?
Chinese tradition counts 虚岁 (xūsuì), "nominal age": you are 1 at birth, and you gain a year at every Chinese New Year — not on your birthday. So your lunar age is usually 1 to 2 years ahead of your Western age. Anyone born in January or February before Chinese New Year belongs to the previous lunar year, which shifts their row on the chart.
Why the lunar month of conception?
The column is the lunar month in which conception happened, not the Gregorian month. The lunar calendar drifts against the Western calendar every year, and occasionally inserts a leap month. If conception falls in a leap month, the traditional rule reads its first half as the repeated month and the second half as the next month.
The complete traditional chart (lunar age 18–45)
Find your row (lunar age) and column (lunar month of conception). B = boy prediction, G = girl prediction.
This is the version most widely reproduced in Chinese-language sources. Circulating copies disagree on a few cells in the older rows — the chart is folklore, not a measurement. Age is lunar age; months are lunar months.
FAQ
Is the Chinese gender predictor accurate?
A 2017 study published in the Chinese Journal of Social Medicine tested the chart on 107 obstetric patients and found its accuracy below 50% overall — no better than guessing. Treat it as a fun tradition, not a medical tool.
What is my lunar age?
Count 1 at birth, then add 1 for every Chinese New Year that has passed. If you were born in January or February before Chinese New Year, your lunar birth year is the previous year — our calculator handles this automatically.
Do I use my due date or conception date?
Conception date. If you know only your due date, conception is roughly 266 days earlier; if you know the first day of your last period, add about 14 days.
What if conception falls in a leap lunar month?
The traditional rule reads the first half of the leap month as the month it repeats, and the second half as the following month. We apply that rule and tell you when we did.
Can I plan a boy or girl with this chart?
No — gender is fixed at conception by the X/Y chromosomes. Beyond the science, planning around any prediction chart reduces conception windows and can delay pregnancy. Enjoy the chart as entertainment.
Learn More
Curious about the larger Chinese system this chart belongs to? Read how to read a BaZi chart, explore the five elements, or check your Chinese zodiac sign. For name ideas, see our Chinese baby names section.