How To Find The Favorable Floor

How to Select the Floor When Buying an Apartment
Au Ann San
1. Introduction
Does the floor where you stay affect the feng shui of your home? Which floor should
I live in? These are a few very popular questions people ask when selecting an
apartment. In this paper, I will try to answer these questions using a simple method to
select the floor of an apartment.
Before the floor of an apartment can be selected, the Gua number of the homeowner
must be calculated. This is a number derived from his/her year of birth. However,
some may ask: There are a few members in my family, whose Gua number should be
used? When buying an apartment, the person who pays for it is the owner and
therefore his/her Gua number should be used. What if a few persons share to buy an
apartment? In such a case, we will usually use the Gua number of the person with the
largest share. If all co-owners have the same share, the Gua number of the person who
makes the most money should be used. The logic is that the feng shui in the apartment
affects everyone living in it. If the feng shui is no good, the one who will be affected
most financially will be the person with the highest income.
2. Gua Number
The Gua number of a person is derived from his/her year of birth. It should be noted
that the year used to calculate the Gua number is based on Hsia calendar (夏历), a
calendar used in Chinese Metaphysics. A new year in this calendar starts on Li Chun
(立春), the first day of spring, which can fall on the 3rd, 4th or 5th of February every
year. Using the year of birth, add up all the four digits of the year until only one digit
remains. For a male, deduct this number from 11 and if the result is a single digit
number, it is the Gua number. If it is a two-digit number, add the digits to obtain a
single digit number, which is the Gua number. For a female, add four to the number
and the result is the Gua number. If the Gua number is 5, a male should use 2 and a
female should use 8. Let’s show some examples to demonstrate this:
Example 1: Gua number for a male

A male born in 1959, year of the pig.
1 + 9 + 5 + 9 = 24
Add the digits of the year to obtain a singles digit number:
2+4=6
For male, deduct the result from 11, giving the Gua number: 11 – 6 = 5
For a male, use 2 as his Gua number when the result is 5.
Example 2: Gua number for a female

A female born in 1969, year of the horse.
1 + 9 + 6 + 9 = 25
Add the digits of the year to obtain a singles digit number:
2+5=7
For female, add 4 to the result to get the Gua number: 4 + 7 = 11
If the result is 2-digit, add them to obtain the Gua number: 1+1=2
Her Gua number is 2.
If you do not wish to calculate the Gua number using the above method, you can use
the table in Appendix I to find the Gua number.
3. Ming Gua
After calculating the Gua number of the homeowner, we need to determine his/her
Ming Gua. This is a very simple process that makes use of the following table:
Gua Number Ming Gua Element

1 Kan 坎 Water
2 Kun 坤 Earth
3 Zhen 震 Wood
4 Xun 巽 Wood
6 Qian 乾 Metal
7 Dui 兌 Metal
8 Gen 艮 Earth
9 Li 離 Fire
Table 1: Ming Gua and Their Elements
4. He Tu
After determining the Ming Gua of the owner of the apartment, we need to use the He
Tu (River Diagram), shown as follows:
South
Fire
East 5, 10 West
8 3 4 9
Wood Earth Metal
North
Water
Figure 1: He Tu (River Diagram)
Use of the He Tu is explained in Section 5.

5. Determine a suitable floor
Using the Ming Gua obtained in Table 1, determine the element of the Ming Gua.
Look for the branch with the same element as the Ming Gua in the He Tu (Figure 1)
and use either of the 2 numbers in that branch as the floor of the apartment. For
example, a person with a Gua number of 2 has the Kun 坤 Gua, which is earth. In the
He Tu, the numbers 5 and 10 are earth elements and therefore this person can buy an
apartment either on the 5th level, 10th level, 15th level, 20th level and so on.
If the floor using the same element as the Ming Gua is not available, the second
choice will be to use the element that produces the element of the Ming Gua. Using
the same example above, fire produces earth and therefore the numbers 2 and 7 can be
used, which means he can also choose levels 2, 7, 12, 17 and so on. The productive
cycle of the 5 elements are as follows:
金
Metal
土
水
Earth Productive
Water
Cycle
火木
Fire Wood
Figure 2: Productive Cycle of the 5 Elements
Some people may ask: Why don’t we just use the Gua number as the floor of the
apartment? If you look closely at the Gua numbers in Table 1, 0 and 5 are missing.
Therefore the Gua number itself cannot be used to select the floor of an apartment.
6. Verification of Favourable Element
After using the above method to select the floor of an apartment, it is advisable to
check if the element of the person’s Ming Gua is his/her favourable element using
his/her bazi. If the element of the person’s Ming Gua is his/her favourable element,
the floor selected satisfies both his/her Ming Gua and bazi, which will be very good
for him/her. If the element of the person’s Ming Gua is his/her unfavourable element,
the element that produces the Ming Gua element can be used. If the Ming Gua
element and the element that produces it are both unfavourable elements, it is
advisable to use a person’s favourable elements using bazi to determine the floor of
the apartment. In such a case, use the favourable elements, which can be two or three
elements, and read off the pairs of numbers from the He Tu (Figure 1). For example, a
person whose favourable elements are water and wood, can choose levels 1, 3, 6, 8,
11, 13, 16, 18, and so on. Determination of a person’s favourable elements using
his/her bazi is an advanced technique in bazi studies and is beyond the scope of this
paper.
Appendix I: Gua Number from Years 1922 to 2024
Gua Number
Year Symbol Start & End Dates 立春 Time
Male Female
1922 Dog 4 Feb 1922 – 4 Feb 1923 2207 hours 6 9
1923 Pig 5 Feb 1923 – 4 Feb 1924 0401 hours 5 1
1924 Rat 5 Feb 1924 – 3 Feb 1925 0950 hours 4 2
1925 Ox 4 Feb 1925 – 3 Feb 1926 1537 hours 3 3
1926 Tiger 4 Feb 1926 – 4 Feb 1927 2139 hours 2 4
1927 Rabbit 5 Feb 1927 – 4 Feb 1928 0331 hours 1 5
1928 Dragon 5 Feb 1928 – 3 Feb 1929 0917 hours 9 6
1929 Snake 4 Feb 1929 – 3 Feb 1930 1509 hours 8 7
1930 Horse 4 Feb 1930 – 4 Feb 1931 2052 hours 7 8
1931 Goat 5 Feb 1931 – 4 Feb 1932 0241 hours 6 9
1932 Monkey 5 Feb 1932 – 3 Feb 1933 0830 hours 5 1
1933 Rooster 4 Feb 1933 – 3 Feb 1934 1410 hours 4 2
1934 Dog 4 Feb 1934 – 4 Feb 1935 2004 hours 3 3
1935 Pig 5 Feb 1935 – 4 Feb 1936 0149 hours 2 4
1936 Rat 5 Feb 1936 – 3 Feb 1937 0730 hours 1 5
1937 Ox 4 Feb 1937 – 3 Feb 1938 1326 hours 9 6
1946 Dog 4 Feb 1946 – 3 Feb 1947 1805 hours 9 6
1947 Pig 4 Feb 1947 – 4 Feb 1948 2327 hours 8 7
1948 Rat 5 Feb 1948 – 3 Feb 1949 0543 hours 7 8
1949 Ox 4 Feb 1949 – 3 Feb 1950 1123 hours 6 9
1958 Dog 4 Feb 1958 – 3 Feb 1959 1550 hours 6 9
1959 Pig 4 Feb 1959 – 4 Feb 1960 2143 hours 5 1
1960 Rat 5 Feb 1960 – 3 Feb 1961 0323 hours 4 2
1961 Ox 4 Feb 1961 – 3 Feb 1962 0923 hours 3 3
1970 Dog 4 Feb 1970 – 3 Feb 1971 1346 hours 3 3
1971 Pig 4 Feb 1971 – 4 Feb 1972 1926 hours 2 4
1972 Rat 5 Feb 1972 – 3 Feb 1973 0120 hours 1 5
1973 Ox 4 Feb 1973 – 3 Feb 1974 0704 hours 9 6
1982 Dog 4 Feb 1982 – 3 Feb 1983 1145 hours 9 6
1983 Pig 4 Feb 1983 – 3 Feb 1984 1735 hours 8 7
1984 Rat 4 Feb 1984 – 3 Feb 1985 2320 hours 7 8
1985 Ox 4 Feb 1985 – 3 Feb 1986 0515 hours 6 9
1994 Dog 4 Feb 1994 – 3 Feb 1995 0933 hours 6 9
1995 Pig 4 Feb 1995 – 3 Feb 1996 1524 hours 5 1
1996 Rat 4 Feb 1996 – 3 Feb 1997 2115 hours 4 2
1997 Ox 4 Feb 1997 – 3 Feb 1998 0304 hours 3 3
2006 Dog 4 Feb 2006 – 3 Feb 2007 0725 hours 3 3
2007 Pig 4 Feb 2007 – 3 Feb 2008 1314 hours 2 4
2008 Rat 4 Feb 2008 – 3 Feb 2009 1903 hours 1 5
2009 Ox 4 Feb 2009 – 3 Feb 2010 0052 hours 9 6
2018 Dog 4 Feb 2018 – 3 Feb 2019 0538 hours 9 6
2019 Pig 4 Feb 2019 – 3 Feb 2020 1128 hours 8 7
2020 Rat 4 Feb 2020 – 2 Feb 2021 1718 hours 7 8
2021 Ox 3 Feb 2021 – 3 Feb 2022 2308 hours 6 9
How to use the above table to find the Gua number:
1. Find your year of birth in column 1.

2. Make sure your birth date is between the start and end dates in column 3.
3. If your date of birth is the starting day of the year, determine if the time of birth is
AT or AFTER the 立春 time in column 4. If no, use the previous year.
4. For a male, read off the Gua number in column 5 and for a female, read it off in
column 6. If the Gua number is 5, a male should use 2 as the Gua number and for
a female, 8 should be used.
Example 1:
A male born on 18 July 1959:
His birth date is between the start and end dates: 4 Feb 1959 – 4 Feb 1960 (column 3)
His Gua number is 5 (column 5)
Since the result is 5, he should use 2 as the Gua number.
Example 2:
A female born on 4 February 1966 at 1400 hours:
Her birth date is the starting date of 1966: 4 Feb 1966 – 3 Feb 1967 (column 3)
However, her birth time (1400 hours) is before the 立春 time: 1438 hours (column 4)
Therefore she should use the Gua number for the year 1965, which is 7 (column 6)
Example 3:
A female born on 4 February 1966 at 1500 hours:
Her birth date is the starting date of 1966: 4 Feb 1966 – 3 Feb 1967 (column 3)
Her birth time (1500 hours) is after the 立春 time: 1438 hours (column 4)
Her Gua number is 8 (column 6)

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How to Select the Floor When Buying an Apartment

Example 1: Gua number for a male

Example 2: Gua number for a female

Gua Number Ming Gua Element

Use of the He Tu is explained in Section 5.

Figure 2: Productive Cycle of the 5 Elements

6. Verification of Favourable Element

How to use the above table to find the Gua number:

1. Find your year of birth in column 1.

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