The Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches（天干和地支）

“干支” (Ganzhi, Stems and Branches), is the short and general term for “天干地支” (Tiangan Dizhi, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches). Originally “干支” means the “stems and branches” of a tree, as they are parts of a whole entity. In ancient China, people considered the Heaven the primary and the Earth the secondary (天为 “主”, 地为 “从”, tian weizhu, di weicong). “天” (the Heaven) and “干” (the Stems) are correlated and are thus called “天干”. “地支” come into being because of “地” (the Earth) and “支” (the Branches). So “天干地支” becomes a collocated expression.

There are 10 words about “天干” and 12 words about “地支”. But why have these words been chosen? An interesting answer is that all these words are related with the process of plant growth and the farming activities. The ten words about “天干” are: “甲 (jia), 乙 (yi), 丙 (bing), 丁 (ding), 戊 (wu), 己 (ji), 庚 (geng), 辛 (xin), 壬 (ren), 癸 (gui)”.

“甲” (the 1st of the ten Heavenly Stems), originally means “shell”, and implies here all things on Earth come out of earth in Spring, and begin sprouting as all plant seeds do.

“乙” (the 2nd Stem) implies that grass and trees start to grow, with small leaves bending to develop.

“丙” (the 3rd Stem) suggests that all things are lightened and are obviously seen.

“丁” (the 4th Stem) implies that grass and trees are well grown like a strong man.

“戊” (the 5th Stem) means the luxuriant growth of all things.

“己” (the 6th Stem) is similar to “起” (qi, rising), which means all things are strongly rising up.

“庚” (the 7th Stem) is similar to “更”, “更新” (gengxin, taking on a new aspect), which implies the ready autumn harvesting.

“辛” (the 8th Stem) has the same sounding with “新” (xin, new), which implies here that all things are new after harvesting.

“壬” (the 9th Stem) is similar to “妊” (ren, conception), implying that all things have new conceptions and “阳” (yang, the masculine or the positive principle in nature) begins to withdraw into the Earth.

“癸” (the 10th Steam) means “揆” (kui), implying new lives are breeding down in the Earth and are waiting for birth.

There are 12 words about “地支”, they are: “子 (zi), 丑 (chou), 寅 (yin), 卯 (mao), 辰 (chen), 巳 (si), 午 (wu), 未 (wei), 申 (shen), 酉 (you), 戌 (xu), 亥 (hai)”.

“子” (1st of the 12 Earthly Branches) means “孽” (nie), implying seeds of plants and trees are ready to sprout when absorbing water.

“丑” (the 2nd Branch) implies that sprouts are bending out of the earth surface.

“寅” (the 3rd Branch) means “影” (ying) or “津” (jin), implying the out-of-earth grass and plants are stretching towards the sunlight.

“卯” (the 4th Branch) is euphonized with “茂” (mao), implying all things are thickly or densely grown.

“辰” (the 5th Branch) is in euphony with “震” (zhen) or “伸” (shen), implying the masculine power and all things are then pushed to grow and develop.

“巳” (the 6th Branch) implies the full power of masculine and all things are then in full development.

“午” (the 7th Branch) implies the full growth of all things on Earth because of the full power of masculine, and the start of “阴” (yin, the feminine or negative principle in nature). It also implies the mix of the masculine and the feminine.

“未” (the 8th Branch) is in euphony with “味” (wei, taste), implying fruits are ripening and are having a taste.

“申” (the 9th Branch) has the same pronunciation with “身” (shen, body) and implies here that all things are well formed and developed.

“酉” (the 10th Branch) means “老” (lao, getting old). So “酉” implies that all things start to wither after ripening.

“戌” (the 11th Branch) implies that all things are withering and dying out.

“亥” (the 12th Branch) implies that all things are exposed to and surrounded by the feminine, which reaches its height.