Kua Number
The Kua number is calculated from your birth year in the Chinese calendar and your gender. It divides people into the East and West groups and sets four favorable and four unfavorable directions, which are used to orient the bed, the desk and the front door.
How it's calculated
Here's how it works.
- Take your birth year in the Chinese calendar. If you were born in January or the first days of February, before the moment of Lichun, use the previous year: the boundary falls on February 3, 4 or 5.
- Add up the last two digits of the year and reduce them to a single digit: 1988 → 8 + 8 = 16 → 7.
- For men born before 2000, subtract the result from 10; for those born in 2000 or later, from 9.
- For women born before 2000, add 5; from 2000 on, add 6. If the result is greater than 9, reduce it again.
- Five has no palace of its own: for men it's replaced with 2, for women with 8.
Example: a man born in 1988. 7 → 10 − 7 = 3. Kua number 3, East group. A woman born the same year: 7 + 5 = 12 → 3, also Kua 3.
Check: a man's Kua number always matches the flying star of his birth year — in 1988 the center star was 3. The year boundary is the moment of Lichun, and on the boundary day the calculator shows both options.
What the result means
The numbers 1, 3, 4 and 9 form the East group; 2, 6, 7 and 8 form the West group. The favorable directions of one group are unfavorable for the other, so you look at the group first and only then at the specific direction.
Each of the four good directions has its own purpose:
| Direction | Name | Governs |
|---|---|---|
| First | Sheng Qi | Work, growth, income |
| Second | Tian Yi | Health, support |
| Third | Yan Nian | Relationships, longevity |
| Fourth | Fu Wei | Calm, clarity, study |
The four unfavorable directions differ in strength: Huo Hai brings minor setbacks, Wu Gui quarrels and the loss of people, Liu Sha drawn-out problems, and Jue Ming is considered the worst.
How to use it
In feng shui, a direction isn't where an object stands but where your face or your headboard points.
- Bed. Headboard toward a favorable direction, usually Tian Yi or Fu Wei.
- Desk. Facing Sheng Qi, with your back to a wall rather than to the door.
- Stove. Burner knobs pointing away from the unfavorable side — an old rule that is rarely followed in modern kitchens.
If a favorable direction falls on a wall with a window or on a passageway, use the next one on the list. Alternating is fine: the tradition has no strict requirement to sit facing one direction only.
The same directions are used for trips too: the travel direction calculator shows whether the direction you're heading in is one of your favorable ones.
Frequently asked questions
Why do different sources give me different Kua numbers?
Because of the year boundary. If you were born in January, some sites use the calendar year rather than the Chinese one, and the result shifts.
Does the Kua number change with age?
No, it's calculated once, from your birth year.
What if a husband and wife are in different groups?
Split things by area: the bedroom is oriented for one of you, and each workspace is set to its owner's directions. There's no "average direction" compromise in the tradition.
Are the Kua number and the flying stars the same thing?
No. Kua is calculated for a person, the stars for a building. In practice they're used together.