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Domain |
Remarks |
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Cyclic nature |
- All Chinese basic representations are cyclic in nature, that is time & events are repeated in cycles
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Time cycles |
- There are four separate time cycles - Year, Month, Day, Hour
- Each cycle has 60 separate components - e.g. the Year cycle is 60 unique years in total & repeated thereafter, so on
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Representation of the time cycle |
- In each time cycle, the time for each component is represented uniquely by 2 Chinese characters
- The first character is the Heavenly (Celestial) stem, 天干
- The second character is the Earthly (Terrestrial) stem, 地支
- Yang: Male 陽… Yin: Female 陰
- 五行
: 金水木火土
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Heavenly stem
天干 |
- There are altogether 10 Heavenly stems (meaning each stem is repeated 6 times in a 60-time cycle)
- jia
甲:Yang Wood 陽木
- yi
乙:Yin Wood 陰木
- bing
丙:Yang Fire 陽火
- ding
丁:Yin Fire 陰火
- wu
戊:Yang Earth (soil) 陽土
- ji
己:Yin Earth (soil) 陰土
- geng
庚:Yang Metal 陽金
- xin
辛:Yin Metal 陰金
- ren
壬:Yang Water 陽水
- gui
癸:Yin Water 陰水
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Earthly stem
地支 |
- There are altogether 12 Earthly stems (meaning each stem is repeated 5 times in a 60-time cycle)
- zi
子(rat) 鼠: Yang Water 陽水
- chou
丑(ox) 牛: Yin Earth 陰土
- yin
寅(tiger) 虎: Yang Wood 陽木
- mao
卯(hare, rabbit) 兔: Yin Wood 陰木
- chen
辰(dragon) 龍: Yang Earth 陽土
- si
巳(snake) 蛇: Yin Fire 陰火
- wu
午(horse) 馬: Yang Fire 陽火
- wei
未(sheep) 羊: Yin Earth (soil) 陰土
- shen
申(monkey) 猴: Yang Metal 陽金
- you
酉(rooster) 雞: Yin Metal 陰金
- xu
戌(dog) 狗: Yang Earth 陽土
- hai
亥(pig) 豬: Yin Water 陰水
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Year cycle |
- Year 2001 is xin si
辛巳(Snake) year & year 2002 is ren wu 壬午(Horse) year
- The present 60-year cycle would finish at 2033, and the next 60-year begins in 2034 with jia zi
甲子(Rat) year
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Month cycle |
- 60-month cycle spans 5 years with cyclic 12 signs representing each lunar month
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Day cycle |
- 60-day cycle spans 2 months with cyclic 12 signs representing each day
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Hour cycle |
- 60-hour cycle spans 5 days with cyclic 12 signs representing 2 hours each
- 11pm-1am:
子(rat) 鼠
- 1am-3am:
丑(ox) 牛
- 3am-5am:
寅(tiger) 虎
- 5am-7am:
卯(hare, rabbit) 兔
- 7am-9am:
辰(dragon) 龍
- 9am-11am:
巳(snake) 蛇
- 11am-1pm:
午(horse) 馬
- 1pm-3pm:
未(sheep) 羊
- 3pm-5pm:
申(monkey) 猴
- 5pm-7pm:
酉(rooster) 雞
- 7pm-9pm:
戌(dog) 狗
- 9pm-11pm:
亥(pig) 豬
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Linking astrology & lunisolar calendar |
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