Special Structures and Follow Patterns (Cong Ge)

Most Bazi charts are still read through the usual strong-versus-weak framework. But once the Day Master becomes too extreme to stand as a normal chart, you enter the territory of special structures. The most discussed of these is the follow pattern (cong ge).

This is where many readers go wrong. A chart that looks weak is not automatically a follow chart, and a chart that looks unusually forceful is not automatically a special dominant structure. Special structures require stricter conditions than ordinary strength analysis.

What makes a follow pattern

The core idea is simple: the Day Master loses its own footing, and another force in the chart becomes so concentrated that the Day Master has to move with it rather than resist it.

In practical terms, a follow chart usually needs all of the following:

• the Day Master does not command the month
• the Day Master lacks real root
• there is no effective Seal or Friend support
• one side of the chart becomes clearly dominant

When that happens, the useful gods are no longer chosen by the normal support-and-curb method. The favorable force is often the very force the chart is following.

Common types of follow patterns

Follow-weak patterns

These are the patterns most readers mean when they say "follow chart."

• Follow Wealth: Wealth is overwhelmingly strong, the Day Master has no real root, and support is missing. Such charts often rely on external resources, business circulation, spouse support, or money-moving environments.
• Follow Officer or Seven Killings: authority stars dominate, and the Day Master cannot fight back. These charts can do well in structured or high-pressure systems, but only if the pattern remains clean.
• Follow Output: Food God or Hurting Officer dominates, draining the Day Master so heavily that it follows expression, technique, production, or talent-based work.

Follow-strong or dominant-element structures

There are also charts where the Day Master and its own camp become overwhelmingly strong. Traditional categories include structures such as Qu Zhi, Yan Shang, Jia Se, Cong Ge, and Run Xia. Here the chart does not "follow outward" so much as gather into one side so completely that ordinary balancing rules no longer read well.

These charts often suit independence, specialization, or strong personal direction, but they can be broken if major luck brings in the wrong kind of opposing force.

True follow and fake follow are not the same

This is the part that matters most in practice. A chart may look like follow, yet still contain a hidden root, a trace of Seal, or some delayed support for the Day Master. That is often fake follow, not true follow.

True follow

A true follow chart is clean. The Day Master does not merely look weak; it really has no standing. Hidden stems, branch roots, leftover seasonal support, and stray Seal or Friend help are all absent or unusable. The dominant force forms clearly, with little internal resistance.

These charts are rare, and their life rhythm is often more extreme. When luck supports the followed force, results can rise quickly. When luck breaks the pattern, the fall can also be sharp.

Fake follow

A fake follow chart appears to follow, but the Day Master is not completely gone. There is still a root, a hidden support line, or a surviving counterforce in the structure. The chart then carries an internal pull: part of it follows, part of it still wants to stand as a regular chart.

That is why fake follow often feels more complicated in real life. It can look smooth for years, then suddenly reverse when major luck strengthens the hidden support or removes the dominant force. In other cases, a well-timed cycle can clear the defect and make the chart temporarily behave more like true follow.

Practical checks before you call a chart "follow"

When judging special structures, do not skip the technical groundwork. True Solar Time, solar-term boundaries, and location adjustments still matter. After that, check three things carefully:

1. Does the Day Master truly have no root?
2. Is the followed force really concentrated and seasonally backed?
3. Are there hidden opposing forces in branches or stems?

Common mistakes include:

• treating an ordinary weak chart as follow
• ignoring hidden stems
• reading stems only and neglecting branch structure

Traditional readers also note that yin stems often follow more easily than yang stems, which tend to resist more strongly. That does not settle the chart by itself, but it is a useful caution.

Other special structures

Besides follow patterns, classical Bazi also discusses structures such as:

• Jian Lu
• Yang Ren
• Kui Gang
• Jin Shen

These too must be judged on whether the structure is actually formed or already broken. Naming a pattern is not the same as reading it correctly.

A practical example

Take an anonymized chart: Xin-Hai, Yi-Wei, Bing-Shen, Ji-Chou.

At first glance, the Bing Fire Day Master born in Wei month looks like follow Wealth. Fire is weak, Earth and Metal gather, and Output appears to feed Wealth. But the Hai branch hides Jia Wood, which still gives the Day Master a hidden Seal line. That means the chart is not fully pure. It is better read as fake follow Wealth.

In such a chart, early gains may come through investment, spouse support, or other people's resources. Later on, if major luck suppresses the hidden support line, career can rise with the pattern. But if luck turns and revives the counterforce, the chart may stop behaving like follow altogether.

Final note

Special structures are some of the easiest charts to overstate. Once someone hears "true follow," they may assume the whole life story is already settled. That is exactly where good reading has to slow down. Before using any label, confirm whether the structure is clean, whether the Day Master really has no way back, and whether major luck preserves or breaks the pattern. To test this against your own chart, you can build one at Ming Ming Guan Zhi BaZi and check the full structure step by step.