Unknown values remain unknown; boundary choices remain attached.
Begin with the birth record you can actually support
Enter the Gregorian birth date as recorded and the local clock time shown on the source record. Do not convert the time to UTC yourself. The calculator needs the birthplace to resolve the correct historical offset. A modern UTC offset copied from a search result may be wrong for a birth decades earlier because time-zone and daylight-saving rules change.
If the time is unknown, say so. MingWeave deliberately produces a Three-Pillar result and marks time-dependent fields as unavailable. Choosing noon or midnight to fill a blank can create a precise-looking Hour Pillar that has no evidentiary basis. Approximate times should be tested as a range, especially around two-hour and day boundaries.
Resolve place and daylight-saving ambiguity
Choose the matching city and country from the local search results. The selected record supplies an IANA time-zone identifier and coordinates. If the city is missing, the manual fallback asks for the same minimum information and labels the lower precision. MingWeave does not send the entered query or selected birthplace to its analytics endpoint.
Some local clock times occur twice when daylight saving ends; others never occur when clocks jump forward. For a repeated time, use supporting records or family context to choose the first or second occurrence. For a nonexistent time, correct the source record rather than forcing a chart. The calculator stops and explains both cases.
Choose a Method Profile before comparing results
The standard profile uses civil local time and a midnight day boundary. Advanced profiles can apply True Solar Time, a 23:00 Zi-hour day boundary, or both. These are declared conventions, not secret accuracy switches. Keep the standard profile for a first chart unless you have a reason to compare a school-specific convention.
After calculation, read the profile identifier, engine version, data versions, and trace. A result marked partial has intentionally omitted unsupported fields. Warnings identify proximity to solar-term, hour, day, daylight-saving, or data-range boundaries. They do not mean the entire chart is invalid; they tell you which assumption deserves attention.
- Use local civil time as written on the record.
- Select the historical time zone through the birthplace.
- Treat method changes as comparisons, not corrections.
Review, compare, and export privately
Confirm that the input summary matches what you entered. Review the Four Pillars, Day Master, Five Elements, Hidden Stems, Ten Gods, interactions, and Luck Pillars in order. Open the trace when a warning appears. The method comparison recalculates from the same in-memory birth input and highlights only pillars that change.
MingWeave’s copy and PNG exports are generated in the browser and omit the birth date, exact time, birthplace, coordinates, and time-zone identifier. That makes the artifact safer to share, but you should still decide whether the chart itself feels personal. Closing or refreshing the page clears the calculated record because P0 has no account or server-side chart storage.