AsterNymAsterNym
Portrait of Yiyun Li

Yiyun Li

Yiyun Li (born November 4, 1972, Beijing, China), aged 54, is a Chinese American writer. Li is best known for Kinder Than Solitude, The Vagrants and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. Li's honours include O. Henry Award, Guardian First Book Award and Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award.

Yiyun Li’s zodiac sign is Scorpio, Chinese zodiac is Water Rat, with Life Path 7 in numerology.

Your match with Yiyun

Free, no account, stays on this device. Add a birth time later.

Yiyun Li’s AsterNym identity

The Steadfast Lightkeeper

Earth represents stability. Earth-led charts are associated with patience, responsibility and the ability to make people or projects feel supported. Life Path 7 represents inquiry: study, solitude and the need to understand what others may simply accept.

Earth Day Master (BaZi) × fixed Sun × Life Path 7, on the intuitive plane.

What Yiyun’s name adds up to

Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.

7

Expression · depth and research

3

Soul Urge · being heard

4

Personality · steady, dependable

The name opens on Y (7) and closes on N (5).

Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again

Yiyun’s lucky numbers, colours and stones

Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.

Lucky numbers

7 · 2 · 3

Lucky colours

Blue & Black

Lucky day

Tuesday

Direction

↑ North

Season

winter

Stones

Topaz, Red Coral, Aquamarine

Flower constellation

🌼 Chrysanthemum · 🌺 Red Dahlia · 🪷 Lotus

Gold · Crimson · Soft pink

Eight Mansions · Kua number

Kua 6, trigram Qian 乾, West group. Best direction West, worst Southeast.

A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1972, which turns at Li Chun rather than at New Year, and from sex, which Wikidata records as female. Work out your own →

The record

What sets Yiyun apart

What keeps Yiyun Li in print: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, The Vagrants and Kinder Than Solitude.

The classrooms behind this chart: Peking University and University of Iowa.

The same date carries Luís Figo and Anders Holch Povlsen. The sky is shared; nothing after it is.

Known for
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, The Vagrants and Kinder Than Solitude
Educated at
Peking University and University of Iowa
Awards
Guardian First Book Award (2006), O. Henry Award (2012) and Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award (2006)
Citizenship
People's Republic of China
Languages
English and American English
Wikipedia editions
22

What the chart says

Yiyun, according to the stars

Core essence

Yiyun does not do surface. The core of Yiyun is intensity, the kind that wants the real story and can tell when it is not getting it. They love completely or not at all, keep their own counsel, and have a private loyalty that runs deeper than anyone outside it will ever know. Trust from Yiyun is earned slowly and never given lightly.

The vibe

Underneath, Yiyun cannot fully relax while anyone in the room is unhappy. The Moon in Libra feels through harmony and hates conflict in their own house. What Yiyun needs to feel safe is fairness, softness and a partner in the small decisions. They are at their best when someone else picks the restaurant and they get to enjoy it.

How Yiyun wants to be loved

Yiyun wants to be loved beautifully. Venus is at home in Libra: romance, manners, the date that was actually planned, a partner who is fair and easy to be around. Yiyun gives a lot of grace and needs it back. Treat them like a partner in everything, including the small choices, and they bloom.

How Yiyun creates

How Yiyun makes things happen: they make things grow. A Yin Earth day master is the garden soil, generous, nourishing, the reason other people's ideas take root. Yiyun creates by caring for the thing until it works, and they are often the quiet reason a whole group is thriving. The work is keeping some of that richness for themselves.

Instinct

Instinct: Yiyun is quick, clever and alert, a Rat year, and their gut reaction to a problem is to find the angle nobody has tried. Charming, resourceful, a little bit of a hoarder of good things and good people. The Water year softens it: intuitive, adaptable, feeling their way through people.

Purpose

Purpose: Life Path 7 is the seeker. Yiyun is here to understand, to go deep rather than wide, to keep a private inner world that most people never see. Thoughtful, intuitive, happiest with time alone, and learning to let the right people in.

Triggers

Triggers: unfairness, and being forced to pick a side. Mars in Libra hates open conflict and will negotiate for hours to avoid it, then dig in absolutely when a principle is at stake. Yiyun fights for balance. The lesson is that sometimes the fair thing is to just say no.

Computed from Yiyun's birth date. Working below.

Where Yiyun sits

Six lines

Yiyun’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.

Intimate circleWide network
Yiyun

You may run on a few close bonds rather than a crowd. Depth is your default.

DeliberateSpontaneous
Yiyun

You likely think things through before you act. Haste rarely feels safe.

PrivateExpressive
Yiyun

You likely share some feelings openly and keep others to yourself.

Cool off firstResolve immediately
Yiyun

You may need space before addressing conflict. Cooling off comes first.

PracticalVisionary
Yiyun

You may be drawn to big possibilities. The practical follows after the vision.

Gradual trustImmediate chemistry
Yiyun

You likely warm up at a pace that depends on the person and moment.

Tap each line where you sit.

All twelve of yours, from your birth date →

✦ A real star from their birth night

Dedicate a star to Yiyun Li

Three stars chosen from the real sky above Beijing on the night they were born. Choose the story that connects you.

Yiyun’s birth-night reference starAlpheratzblue-white · AndromedaAlpheratz, in Andromeda. A blue-white star, 77.8° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the bright star nearest the zenith.Dedicate Alpheratz →The warmest lightCapellagolden yellow · AurigaCapella, in Auriga. A golden yellow star, 31.5° above the horizon at 9 p.m. local time, the warmest-toned bright star up that night.Dedicate Capella →

A 9 p.m. reference sky, not the birth minute. Dedications are commemorative and confer no ownership of stars.

The sky over Beijing that night

Computed for 39.90°N, 9 p.m. local sky.

At 9 p.m. the star closest to straight overhead at Beijing was Alpheratz, in Andromeda, 77.8° up.

Vega was the brightest thing up that night, one of 97 catalog stars above the horizon.

From 39.9°N not one of the brightest stars stays permanently above the horizon — all of them rise and set.

Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman cannot be seen from Beijing at all: they sit past the −50.1° declination limit this latitude imposes.

Sun 44° below the horizon, Moon down and 2% lit at new moon.

How unusual Yiyun's chart is

Chart pattern score

60 / 100 · Unusual

4-planet stellium in Libra · 1 unaspected planet · A leaning bowl

An AsterNym index built from stelliums, yods, grand crosses and chart shape. It is not a population percentile, and a high score is not a better chart. Without a birth time the houses are left out of it.

Score your own chart →

Yiyun Li at a glance

Scorpio Sun

Intense, private, loyal.

Yiyun Li's Sun was in Scorpio for the whole of November 4, 1972, so no birth time is needed to settle it.

What Scorpio means →

Water Rat

Finds the shortcut every time.

Yiyun Li was born on November 4, 1972, which falls in a Water Rat year of the Chinese calendar.

What the Rat means →

Life Path 7

Digs under every answer.

Yiyun Li's birth date, November 4, 1972, reduces to Life Path 7 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.

What Life Path 7 means →

What stands out in Yiyun’s chart

Yiyun’s birth chart

Reference chart · birth time unknown

Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 15° to 27° Libra depending on the hour.

AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces123456789101112Mercury opens doors for Venus · Sextile, 0.1° orbVenus grinds against Jupiter · Square, 0.4° orbSaturn flows with Uranus · Trine, 0.5° orbNeptune opens doors for Pluto · Sextile, 0.8° orbMoon fuses with Uranus · Conjunction, 0.9° orbMercury fuses with Neptune · Conjunction, 0.9° orbVenus opens doors for Neptune · Sextile, 1° orbMoon fuses with Mars · Conjunction, 1.2° orbSun in Scorpio · 11°50′☉11°Moon in Libra · 21°05′☽21°Mercury in Sagittarius · 4°59′☿4°Venus in Libra · 5°08′♀5°Mars in Libra · 22°15′♂22°Jupiter in Capricorn · 5°31′♃5°Saturn in Gemini · 19°39′ · retrograde♄℞19°Uranus in Libra · 20°09′♅20°Neptune in Sagittarius · 4°08′♆4°Pluto in Libra · 3°21′♇3°

No birth time, so the houses are a solar chart: the Sun’s sign counts as house 1.

Tap a planet, a sign, a house, an aspect line or an element to see what it means and what sits in it.
Lines drawn
Conjunction 0°
Sextile 60°
Square 90°
Trine 120°
Opposition 180°

Placements

Tap one to light it on the wheel.

The working: aspects, Chiron and the asteroids, dominant planets and configurationsshow

Aspects across every possible birth time

  • stableMoonconjunctionMars0.0° to 6.9° orb

    Yiyun’s feelings and drive act as one. Each makes the other louder.

  • stableVenussquareJupiter0.0° to 0.9° orb

    Yiyun’s affections grind against their growth.

  • stableMoonconjunctionUranus0.1° to 6.9° orb

    Yiyun’s feelings and need for freedom act as one.

  • stableMercurysextileVenus0.1° to 0.2° orb

  • stableMercuryconjunctionNeptune0.3° to 1.4° orb

  • stableVenussextileNeptune0.4° to 1.6° orb

  • stableSaturntrineUranus0.4° to 0.5° orb

  • stableNeptunesextilePluto0.8° orb

  • stableMercurysextilePluto1.1° to 2.1° orb

  • stableVenusconjunctionPluto1.2° to 2.4° orb

  • stableMarsconjunctionUranus1.8° to 2.4° orb

  • stableJupitersquarePluto2.1° to 2.2° orb

Chart signature

Elements

  • Fire2 of 10
  • Earth1 of 10
  • Air6 of 10
  • Water1 of 10

Modalities

  • Cardinal6 of 10
  • Fixed1 of 10
  • Mutable3 of 10

Counted across the ten planets by sign: Air leads this chart.

Yiyun’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith

What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.

  • ⚷ Chiron ℞Aries 13°55′ (moves 0.04° over the day)

    centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it

  • ⚳ CeresLibra 29°07′ (moves 0.44° over the day)

    dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured

  • ♡ ErosAquarius 24°20′ (moves 0.27° over the day)

    near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire

  • ⚕ HygieaSagittarius 11°03′ (moves 0.41° over the day)

    main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well

  • ⚸ Black Moon LilithScorpio 28°18′ (moves 0.11° over the day)

    mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed

Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith

  • Eros trine Mars 2.1°

Yiyun’s dominant planets

  1. 1. ♀ Venus9 pts

    in its own sign, Libra; disposes Mars, Uranus, Pluto; 4 major aspects

  2. 2. ♇ Pluto8 pts

    rules the Sun sign, Scorpio; disposes Sun; 4 major aspects

  3. 3. ♂ Mars4.5 pts

    traditionally rules the Sun sign, Scorpio; 3 major aspects

Configurations in Yiyun’s chart

  • stellium, the shape it makesStellium in Libra · Venus, Mars, Uranus, PlutoThree or more planets in one sign (four, or three with a luminary, by AsterNym's count): a concentration astrologers read as that sign's themes dominating the chart.

Minor aspects

semi-sextile, semi-square, quintile, sesquiquadrate, biquintile, quincunx.

  • Mercury semi-square Uranus 0.2°
  • Mercury semi-sextile Jupiter 0.5°
  • Uranus semi-square Neptune 1.0°
  • Mars quintile Jupiter 1.3°
  • Jupiter semi-sextile Neptune 1.4°

Born the same day as Yiyun

2 other people here were born on November 4, 1972, the same date and the same year. With no birth time for any of them the chart is identical, not similar: the same Sun, the same pillars, the same Life Path. The sky over the birthplace is not shared: from Beijing, at 39.9°N, nothing below −50.1° declination ever rises, which keeps Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman permanently out of sight. Same sky, different lives.

More people like Yiyun

Other screenwriters

Born in China

More charts like Yiyun’s

Fellow Scorpio suns

All about Scorpio →

Born in Rat years

Year of the Rat →

Also born on November 4

Fellow Yin Earth day masters

What a Day Master is →

Other Scorpio Rat charts

  • LordeNew Zealand singer, songwriter and producer
  • John BoltonAmerican lawyer and diplomat (born 1948)
  • Kathy GriffinAmerican actress and comedian
  • Meghan McCainAmerican columnist, author, and television personality (born 1984)

Other Steadfast Lightkeepers

The Steadfast Lightkeeper explained →

Famous people with Life Path 7

Life Path numbers explained →

From the journal: Why there are 12 signs and not 13 · Compatibility triangles: the four trines explained

Yiyun’s cards

Computed from November 4, 1972. Tap to flip.

Birth tarot card

The Chariot

AsterNym identity card

The Steadfast Lightkeeper

Western zodiac

Scorpio

Chinese zodiac

Rat 子

Life Path

7 · Seeker

♂ Ruled by Mars

Iron Fe

The working: BaZi pillarsshow

BaZi pillars

Day Master: yin Earth.

Year

壬

yang Water

子

Rat

Water

roots & early life

Month

庚

yang Metal

戌

Dog

Earth

work & drive

Day

day master

己

yin Earth

亥

Pig

Water

you & partnership

Where this comes from, and how it is worked out

Yiyun’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q460088 (CC0), as do the occupations, works and awards above. With no documented birth time this chart is rated X on the Rodden scale, the astrological convention for how well evidenced a birth time is. The banner above lists what that leaves out. Entries are matched to Wikidata by entity id rather than by name, kept at day precision, and dropped where sources disagree on the date.

Tropical zodiac, whole-sign houses, modern rulers. Aspects on the western_v1 orb policy; minor ones at 1.5° to 2.5°, skipped where a major already holds. Minor bodies from JPL Horizons heliocentric vectors, Lilith as mean apogee. Dominance is an AsterNym score — rulerships, dispositors, aspect count — so other methods can name a different leader.

Portrait by Librairie Mollat, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The same Yiyun Li at Wikipedia and IMDb.

Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.

Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by Yiyun Li.

Quick answers about Yiyun Li’s chart

How old is Yiyun Li?
Yiyun Li is 54 years old, born November 4, 1972 in Beijing, China.
What zodiac sign is Yiyun Li?
Yiyun Li is a Scorpio: born November 4, 1972, which puts the Sun in Scorpio for the whole of that day.
What is Yiyun Li's Chinese zodiac animal?
The Rat, with the Water element, from the Chinese lunar year of the November 4, 1972 birth.
What is Yiyun Li's Life Path number?
Life Path 7, calculated in numerology.
What is Yiyun Li's Chiron sign?
Chiron in Aries at 13°. Position from JPL Horizons.
Where is Yiyun Li's Black Moon Lilith?
Mean Black Moon Lilith in Scorpio at 28°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
What is Yiyun Li's dominant planet?
Venus, on AsterNym's dominance score (9 points: in its own sign, Libra; disposes Mars, Uranus, Pluto; 4 major aspects). Pluto is second and Mars third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.

More charts to explore