A quieter place to explore
Meet YUAN, an independent cultural publishing project, and Kai, its fictional illustrated guide.
YUAN · 元 is an independent, owner-operated cultural publishing project for curious English readers. We introduce the Chinese calendar, Five Phases, yin and yang, and the eight trigrams through short guides and a browser-based almanac.
Our public editorial contact is [email protected]. You can use it to ask about a source, report an error or raise a website issue.
What you can do here
Explore a date in the daily almanac, read one of our cultural guides, or try a clearly labeled reflection question. Start here walks through a first visit and answers common questions.
The website has no accounts, birth-data submission, payments or paid consultations. The date calculations run in your browser. Our five reusable daily reflection prompts are editorial exercises, rather than individual forecasts.
Meet Kai
Kai is our illustrated fictional cultural guide. The portrait is a creative character, not a photograph or the identity of a practitioner. An article attributed to YUAN Editorial is AI-assisted editorial material; it does not establish Kai's human qualifications or lived experience.
How we work
We name sources, distinguish recorded traditions from practical evidence, and explain the method behind the date tool. Our content has not received independent scholarly or practitioner certification. Corrections and source suggestions are welcome through our contact page.
Read our editorial approach, how the calendar works, and privacy information for the details.