THE LIVING ALMANAC
ISSUE 01 · 🌿 EARTH EDITION
NO CRYSTAL BALL REQUIRED
Chinese time culture, translated for the calendar-curious
You know what time it is.
Learn what kind of time it is.
Daily Qi turns the traditional Chinese calendar into a calm, legible field guide: the 24 solar terms, the 12 two-hour periods, the Four Pillars, and the cultural stories inside them.
Open today’s field notes
Designed for iPhone · Apple Watch · Mac · Widgets
#chinamaxxing*
24 seasonal plot twists
offline & unbothered
#becomechinese-ish*
*By learning one culturally specific word for time at a time. Actual nationality not included.
时 is not only a number on a clock. It can be a season, a quality, a rhythm, a reference—and occasionally a very specific horse hour.
FIELD NOTE 01 · THE DAY IN TWELVE CHAPTERS
Meet the shichen.
Before the 24-hour clock, a day could be read as twelve double-hours, each named for an Earthly Branch and paired with an animal. Tap through the dial; no exam follows.
午
The sun has entered the group chat.
Wu Hour sits around solar noon. In the Five Phase vocabulary it carries Fire imagery: bright, active, visible, and difficult to ignore.
Learning note: 午 appears in 午饭, the everyday word for lunch.
FIELD NOTE 02 · 24 SOLAR TERMS
The year ships 24 versions.
Precise seasonal markers for light, weather, and habit — frogs heard, grain full, autumn coat located.
- 立春Spring Begins
- 雨水Rain Water
- 惊蛰Awakening Insects
- 春分Spring Equinox
- 清明Clear & Bright
- 谷雨Grain Rain
- 立夏Summer Begins
- 小满Grain Buds
- 芒种Grain in Ear
- 夏至Summer Solstice
- 小暑Minor Heat
- 大暑Major Heat
- 立秋Autumn Begins
- 处暑End of Heat
- 白露White Dew
- 秋分Autumn Equinox
- 寒露Cold Dew
- 霜降Frost Descends
- 立冬Winter Begins
- 小雪Minor Snow
- 大雪Major Snow
- 冬至Winter Solstice
- 小寒Minor Cold
- 大寒Major Cold
FIELD NOTE 03 · A TIMESTAMP WITH PERSONALITY
Four Pillars, zero predictions.
Daily Qi presents the traditional stem-branch notation of year, month, day, and hour as cultural reference—not fortune-telling. Think of it as a beautifully overqualified timestamp.
午 Yang Fire
Horse · Fire
未 Yin Wood
Goat · Earth
午 Yang Water
Horse · Fire
午 Yang Fire
Horse · Fire
ONE ALMANAC · MANY SURFACES
Available on Apple platforms.
Daily Qi is designed for iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and iOS widgets — one private reference, wherever you already check the time.
- iPhone iOS 17+ · full reference, detail pages, reminders
- Apple Watch watchOS 10+ · swipeable display modes & complications
- Mac macOS 14+ · compact desktop reference
- iOS Widgets Home Screen & Lock Screen · lunar date, shichen, pillars
THE NEXT SEASON IS ALWAYS SHIPPING
Make your clock a little more cultured.
Daily Qi is being prepared for iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and iOS widgets.
Change the atmosphere: