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Heavenly Stems Wikipedia

The ten heavenly stems (zh-cp|c=天干|p=tiāngān;) or ten stems (zh-cp|c=十干|p=sh??gān) are an ancient China|Chinese cyclic numeral system. They were first used for dates in the Shang Dynasty, and are now used with the twelve Earthly Branches in the Sexagesimal cycle in the Chinese calendar and in Chinese astrology. They are associated with Yin Yang and the Five Elements.

	Heavenly Stem	Chinese name	Japanese name	Yin Yang	Element
1	甲	jiǎ	kinoe	yang	wood (classical element)|wood
2	乙	yǐ	kinoto	yin
3	丙	bǐng	hinoe	yang	fire (classical element)|fire
4	丁	dīng	hinoto	yin
5	戊	w?	tsuchinoe	yang	earth (classical element)|earth
6	己	jǐ	tsuchinoto	yin
7	庚	gēng	kanoe	yang	metal (classical element)|metal
8	辛	xīn	kanoto	yin
9	壬	r?n	mizunoe	yang	water (classical element)|water
10	癸	guǐ	mizunoto	yin

The Shang people had a myth in which there were ten suns, each of which appears in order in a ten-day cycle (旬; xǔn). The Heavenly Stems were the names of the ten suns. The kings of the Shang had characters of the Stems in their given names. Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans, but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa. The association to Yin Yang and the Five Elements occurred later, after the collapse of the Shang Dynasty.

The Stems are still commonly used nowadays in China in counting systems similar to the way the alphabet is used in English language|English, namely,

• Students' grades: with an additional Yōu (優 "Excellence") before Jiǎ.

• Choices on multiple choice exams, surveys, and etc.

• Vitamins' names (although currently, in this case, the ABC system is more popular)

• Organic chemistry|Organic chemicals' names (e.g. methanol: 甲醇, ethanol: 乙醇).

Japanese use the Stems as names in legal documents and contracts where English speakers would use A, B, C, etc.

Last Modified:   2005-04-13