Chinese Gender Prediction Chart: Complete Guide to Reading the Chart

The Chinese Gender Prediction Chart is a traditional grid or matrix that claims to predict whether a baby will be a boy or a girl. The chart has the mother's lunar age listed along one axis (typically the rows on the left side) and the lunar month of conception listed along the other axis (typically the columns across the top). Each cell within the grid contains a prediction: either boy (B) or girl (G).

The origins of the chart are the subject of popular legend. The most common story claims the chart was discovered in a royal tomb near Beijing during the Qing Dynasty, roughly 700 years ago. Some versions of the legend say it was found buried in the tomb of a Chinese emperor, while others attribute it to ancient scholars who served in the imperial court. According to these stories, the chart was used by the royal family to ensure male heirs. While none of these origin stories have been verified by historians, they add to the mystique and cultural significance of the chart.

It is important to understand the difference between the chart and a Chinese Gender Calendar calculator. The chart is a static, visual reference that you read manually. You look up your lunar age in one column and your lunar conception month in another, then find where they meet. A calculator, by contrast, is an automated tool. You enter your Western birthday and your Gregorian conception date, and the calculator handles the lunar conversions behind the scenes before showing you the result. Both the chart and the calculator use the exact same underlying data, but the calculator removes the need for you to perform the conversions yourself.

The chart has spread far beyond China and is now used by expecting parents around the world. It appears on parenting forums, baby shower games, and social media posts. Despite its lack of scientific backing, the chart remains popular because it is easy to use, free, and offers a quick answer to one of the most common questions during pregnancy: will it be a boy or a girl?

Reading the chart involves three straightforward steps. First, find your lunar age at the time of conception in the left column of the chart. Second, find your lunar conception month along the top row. Third, follow the row and column until they intersect. The cell at that intersection contains your prediction: B for boy or G for girl.

For example, if your lunar age at conception is 21 and you conceived in lunar month 3, you would locate age 21 on the left side, then move across to the column labeled month 3. The cell at that intersection gives you the predicted gender. In the traditional chart, that particular combination predicts a boy.

Below is a sample portion of the traditional Chinese Gender Prediction Chart showing lunar ages 18 through 25 and lunar months 1 through 6. These values come from the widely circulated version of the traditional chart:

The key takeaway is that you must use your lunar age and lunar conception month when reading the chart. If you use your Western age or the Gregorian calendar month, the chart will not produce the intended prediction. This is the single most common mistake people make when using the chart, and it is why many people report incorrect results. If you are unsure about your lunar values, the easiest path is to use our Chinese Gender Calendar calculator which handles the conversion automatically.

The rows of the Chinese Gender Prediction Chart represent the mother's lunar age at the time of conception. The chart covers maternal lunar ages from 18 to 45. Lunar age is not the same as Western age. In the traditional Chinese age reckoning system, a baby is considered one year old at birth. Furthermore, everyone gains one year of age at Chinese New Year rather than on their individual birthday. This means your lunar age is typically one to two years older than your Western age, depending on whether your birthday falls before or after Chinese New Year in a given year.

For example, a woman who is 28 years old by Western reckoning might have a lunar age of 29 or 30, depending on the timing of her birthday relative to Chinese New Year. Getting the lunar age right is essential because a difference of even one year can change the predicted outcome on the chart. You can verify your exact lunar age using our lunar age calculator.

The columns of the chart represent the 12 lunar months of the Chinese calendar. These months do not align neatly with Gregorian calendar months because the Chinese lunar calendar is based on moon phases. Each lunar month begins on a new moon and lasts approximately 29 or 30 days. As a result, the start and end dates of each lunar month shift from year to year when viewed on the Gregorian calendar.

For instance, lunar month 1 in the year 2026 corresponds to a different range of Gregorian dates than lunar month 1 in 2025. This means you cannot simply use the Gregorian month number (January = 1, February = 2, etc.) when reading the chart. You need to convert your Gregorian conception date to its corresponding lunar month. To learn more about how the lunar calendar works, read our Chinese lunar calendar guide.

If you want to read the chart manually, you need to convert two pieces of information: your Western age to a lunar age, and your Gregorian conception date to a lunar month. Here is how each conversion works.

Converting Western Age to Lunar Age

The general rule is: if your birthday falls before Chinese New Year in the year of conception, add 2 to your Western age at conception. If your birthday falls after Chinese New Year in the year of conception, add 1 to your Western age at conception. The reason for this is that the Chinese system counts you as 1 year old at birth, and then adds another year at the start of each Chinese New Year rather than on your birthday. Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year (usually between late January and mid-February), so the exact offset depends on the specific year.

For example, suppose you were born on March 15, 1994, and you conceived in July 2026. Chinese New Year 2026 falls on February 17. Since your birthday (March 15) is after Chinese New Year, you add 1 to your Western age of 32, giving a lunar age of 33. But if you were born on January 20, 1994, your birthday falls before Chinese New Year 2026, so you would add 2, resulting in a lunar age of 34.

Converting Gregorian Dates to Lunar Months

Converting a Gregorian conception date to a lunar month requires a lunar calendar conversion table or tool. Because lunar months are based on the cycles of the moon, they do not correspond directly to Gregorian months. A date in early March might fall in lunar month 2 in one year but in lunar month 1 in another year. The safest approach is to use a reliable conversion tool rather than attempting to guess.

Our website offers tools that handle both conversions automatically. The Chinese Gender Calendar calculator on the homepage takes your Western birthday and Gregorian conception date as inputs, converts them to lunar values behind the scenes, and then displays the chart's prediction. The lunar age calculator is available if you only need to determine your lunar age without running the full gender prediction.

Many people get incorrect results from the Chinese Gender Prediction Chart not because the chart itself is wrong but because they made an error in their inputs. Here are the most common mistakes to avoid:

• Using Western age instead of lunar age. This is the number one mistake. Your lunar age is almost always 1-2 years higher than your Western age. If you use your Western age, you are looking at the wrong row on the chart, which can completely change the prediction.
• Using the Gregorian month instead of the lunar month. January does not always equal lunar month 1. The lunar calendar shifts every year. You must convert your conception date to its corresponding lunar month for the chart to work as intended.
• Confusion during leap months. The Chinese lunar calendar includes a leap month (an extra month) roughly every three years. If your conception falls during a leap month, you should use the number of the preceding regular month rather than counting the leap month as a separate month. This is a subtle but important detail that many chart readers overlook.
• Wrong year for the Chinese New Year cutoff. Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year. Some people use the wrong year's Chinese New Year date when calculating their lunar age, which throws off the +1 vs. +2 calculation. Always verify the exact Chinese New Year date for the year of conception.
• Estimating the conception date. If you are not sure of your exact conception date, the chart result becomes unreliable because even a few days' difference can shift you from one lunar month to another, especially near month boundaries.

The easiest way to avoid all of these mistakes is to use an automated Chinese Gender Calendar calculator that handles the lunar conversions for you. Manual chart reading is educational and connects you to the tradition, but it does introduce more opportunities for error.

Both the chart and the calculator produce the same result. The difference lies in how you arrive at that result. Here is a side-by-side comparison to help you decide which approach suits you best:

If you are interested in understanding the tradition and want to see exactly how the prediction is derived, reading the chart manually is a rewarding experience. It is also a great activity to share at baby showers. On the other hand, if you just want a quick answer without worrying about conversion errors, the calculator on our homepage is the faster and more reliable choice. For a detailed walkthrough of how to use the calculator, see our calculator guide.

The honest answer is that scientific studies have consistently found the Chinese Gender Prediction Chart to have approximately 50% accuracy, which is the same as flipping a coin. A 1999 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology analyzed over 2.8 million births and found no statistical evidence that the chart can predict baby gender. A 2009 Swedish study reached the same conclusion.

Despite these findings, many parents report that the chart "worked" for them. This is largely explained by confirmation bias: with only two possible outcomes, the chart is correct roughly half the time by pure chance. When the prediction matches reality, people remember it and share the story on social media and parenting forums. When the prediction is wrong, it is quietly forgotten. This creates an illusion of high accuracy in online discussions.

The chart's real value lies not in its predictive accuracy but in its role as a cultural tradition and source of entertainment. It is a fun activity to try during pregnancy, a conversation starter at baby showers, and a way to connect with centuries of Chinese folk culture. As long as you treat it as entertainment rather than a medical tool, there is no harm in giving it a try. For a deeper dive into accuracy data, visit our accuracy page.

The sample table shown earlier in this guide covers only a small portion of the full chart. The complete traditional Chinese Gender Prediction Chart spans all lunar ages from 18 to 45 along the rows and all 12 lunar months along the columns. This creates a grid of over 300 individual predictions. Each cell in the full chart has been passed down through generations and is part of the same traditional dataset.

If you want to look up your prediction on the full chart or explore the pattern of boy and girl predictions across all ages and months, visit our complete Chinese Gender Calendar chart page. That page presents the full interactive chart with color-coded cells so you can quickly scan for your lunar age and month combination.

You may also be interested in seeing how the chart maps to specific Gregorian calendar dates for the current year. Our Chinese Pregnancy Calendar guide provides a month-by-month breakdown of gender predictions for 2026, making it easy to see which lunar months correspond to which Gregorian date ranges. For a broader understanding of how the entire system works, read our guide on how the Chinese Gender Calendar works.