1. The challenges of popularizing Bazi studies
   八字學難普及

如果你對自己的命運有興趣，我猜你一定曾經讀過一些的星座運程或生肖運程之類的讀物。無論靈驗與否，它都帶給了你一點樂趣，反正無傷大雅。讀者拿着自己的出生日期，按照星座運程書上的方法，計算出自己屬於甚麼星座，然後對照自己一生的性格趨勢，後來雜誌更把星座運程推展到「一週星座運程」，把星座的預測，推演到七天之內，都算有趣了。

If you are curious about your own destiny, you may have read up on horoscopes or zodiac horoscopes.
It brings about a bit of fun, and doesn't hurt anyway regardless of whether the readings are accurate or not. Readers have fun taking their birth dates and matching it to the horoscopes / constellations they belonged to, and then comparing it to their personality / traits and / or to subsequently look up their weekly horoscopes to predict their future.

如你所知，星座有十二個。而同樣地，生肖也有十二個，只是生肖跟星座的劃分方法不同，星座是以出生的月日來區分，而生肖則用年來分，並且用了十二種動物作為代表，例如今年2020年肖鼠，下年2021年肖牛等。這不難看到，以十二生肖的區分方法，遠比星座粗疏。事實上古時根本沒有所謂「生肖運程」這回事，這是潮流產物，仗着印刷愈來愈低廉之便，於是推出大量這類垃圾文化。

As you know, there are twelve constellations. Similarly, there are twelve zodiacs, but the method of classifying the zodiacs and the constellations is different. The constellations are distinguished by the month and day of birth, while the zodiac is based on each given year with 12 animals used as representatives, such as the zodiac for 2020 is the mouse, the zodiac for 2021 is the cow, etc. It is not difficult to see that the method of distinguishing the zodiacs is far simpler than that for the constellations. In fact, in ancient times, there was no such thing as "Zodiac-based luck". This was but a “trendy and trashy” product that was introduced and with the advent of paper and printing technologies, became widely available.

但畢竟，「生肖運程」跟「星座運程」有一個共同點，兩者都很容易讓消閒讀者，花不到幾分鐘的時候，就可以按表格對照出自己屬於甚麼「生肖」或「星座」，然後查閱自己的運程，樂了一陣子，消磨了一些快樂時光。有多靈驗，沒有人會很在意。

But both the "Zodiac-based luck" and "Constellations-based luck" have one thing in common. Both are easily understood by readers, who can in a few minutes, quickly look up their fortunes based on their "Zodiac" or "Constellations".

但我不是要說「星座」及「生肖」的壞話，其實兩者都有很深厚的學理在背後，例如「星座」背後是一個龐大的「占星學」，而「生肖」則有一個「八字學」在背後。「星座」及「生肖」只是一個現代的即食文化之下，衍生出來的玩意而已。否則若要一個普通的雜誌讀者，學上幾天才替自己排出一個盤，然後才可以開始談論一點兒自己的性格與命運，實在不化算，一定不受歡迎。

It is not my intention to put down the constellations or the zodiacs. In fact, both of them are underpinned by deep teachings / knowledge. For example, behind the "Constellations" is a huge topic in astrology studies, while the "Zodiac" is underpinned by bazi studies. "Constellations" and "Zodiacs" were introduced to meet the demand for instant gratification, to be able to quickly find out about their fortune. It would surely not be as popular (or unpopular) if one has to spend days to learn and then assess one’s fortune / destiny.


其實算起來，「占星學」的名氣要比「八字學」大一點，占星學可以用於推算個人的命運（Natal Horoscope）、推算國際時局（Mundane Horoscope）、擇日辦事（Election Horoscope）、甚至小至占卜一件事（Horary Horoscope）。八字學則主要用來推算個人命運，雖然偶爾也有人用在占卜與擇日用途上，但推算方法分別很大，所以可視作另一門學問。

In fact, "Astrology" is probably more well known than "Bazi". Astrology studies can be used to assess one’s personal destiny, the international current situation, election outcomes or even small incidents / outcomes. Bazi is mainly used to estimate personal destiny although it is occasionally used by some for divination and day selection as well but the assessment methodologies vary very differently.

中國的算命工具中，有八字學、紫微斗數、七政四餘（中國占星學）……等，而八字學是當中最普遍的一種工具。我對這些學問鑽研了不少時間，希望接下來在這裏跟大家分享，作為一種中外文化交流。

Among Chinese fortune-telling tools, there are Bazi, Ziwei Doushu, Qizheng Siyu (Chinese Astrology)... etc. Bazi is the most common tool among them. I have spent considerable time on these studies, and hope to share them with you here. We can also consider it as an exchange of cultures.

我的中文並不好，幸得好友 JT 替我做英語翻譯，在此我一再感謝他。並祝他事事如意。

My Chinese is not good and the translation here has been provided by my friend, JT. I thank him again for his help and wish him all the best in his endeavours.


Yan Chan 陳一言
chanyiyan@gmail.com