The ten Celestial Stems (Chinese: 天干; pinyin: tiāngān), sometimes known as Heavenly Stems, are the elements of an ancient Chinese cyclic character numeral system: Jia (甲), Yi (乙), Bing (丙), Ding (丁), Wu (戊), Ji (己), Geng (庚), Xin (辛), Ren (壬), Gui (癸). They were used for dates as early as the Shang Dynasty, and are now used with the twelve Earthly Branches in the Sexagenary cycle. They are associated with the concepts of yin and yang and the Five Elements.

Contents 1 Table 2 Origin 3 Current usage 4 See also 5 Notes 6 External links

[edit] Table

	Celestial Stem	Pinyin	Japanese kunyomi	Japanese on'yomi	Korean (RR)	Vietnamese	Yin and Yang (陰陽)	Wu Xing (五行)
1	甲	jiǎ	kinoe	kō	갑 (gap)	giáp	陽 (yang)	木 (wood)
2	乙	yǐ	kinoto	otsu	을 (eul)	ất	陰 (yin)
3	丙	bǐng	hinoe	hei	병 (byeong)	bính	陽(yang)	火 (fire)
4	丁	dīng	hinoto	tei	정 (jeong)	đinh	陰(yin)
5	戊	wù	tsuchinoe	bo	무 (mu)	mậu	陽 (yang)	土 (earth)
6	己	jǐ	tsuchinoto	ki	기 (gi)	kỷ	陰 (yin)
7	庚	gēng	kanoe	kō	경 (gyeong)	canh	陽 (yang)	金 (metal)
8	辛	xīn	kanoto	shin	신 (sin)	tân	陰 (yin)
9	壬	rén	mizunoe	jin	임 (im)	nhâm	陽 (yang)	水 (water)
10	癸	guǐ	mizunoto	ki	계 (gye)	quý	陰 (yin)

[edit] Origin

The Shang people believed that there were ten suns, each of which appeared in order in a ten-day cycle (旬; xún). The Heavenly Stems were the names of the ten suns, which may have designated world ages as did the Five Suns and the Six Ages of the World of Saint Augustine. They were found in the given names of the kings of the Shang. 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 associations with Yin-Yang and the Five Elements developed later, after the collapse of the Shang Dynasty.

The literal meaning of the characters was roughly as follows:^[1]

Celestial Stem	Meaning
	Original	Modern
甲	shell	armor, one, words related to beetles, crustaceans, methanol, fingernails, toenails
乙	fishguts	two, twist, words related to ethanol
丙	fishtail	bright, fire, fishtail (rare)
丁	nail	male adult, robust, T-shaped, onomatopoeia, also a surname
戊	lance	(not used)
己	threads on a loom[citation needed]	self
庚	evening star	age (of person)
辛	to offend superiors[citation needed]	bitter, piquant, toilsome
壬	burden,[citation needed] porter?	to shoulder
癸	both feet?	(not used)

[edit] Current usage

The Stems are still commonly used nowadays in Chinese counting systems similar to the way the alphabet is used in English. For example:

• Names in legal documents and contracts where English speakers would use A, B, C, etc. Korea and Japan also use heavenly stems on legal documents in this way. In Korea, letters gap (甲) and eul (乙) are consistently used to denote the larger and the smaller contractor (respectively) in a legal contract, and are sometimes used as synonyms for such; this usage is also common in the Korean IT industry.
• Choices on multiple choice exams, surveys, etc.
• Organic chemicals (e.g. methanol: 甲醇 jiǎchún; ethanol: 乙醇 yǐchún)
• Diseases (Hepatitis A: 甲型肝炎 jiǎxíng gānyán; Hepatitis B: 乙型肝炎 yǐxíng gānyán)
• Sports leagues (Serie A: 意甲 yìjiǎ)
• Vitamins (although currently, in this case, the ABC system is more popular)
• Characters conversing in a short text (甲 speaks first, 乙 answers)
• Students' grades in Taiwan: with an additional Yōu (優 "Excellence") before the first celestial stem Jiǎ. Hence, English grades A, B, C, D and F correspond to 優, 甲, 乙, 丙 and 丁 (yōu, jiǎ, yǐ, bǐng, dīng).
  • Mainland China uses a different system as described by Wenlin's dictionary entry for 优(優). English grades A B C D and F correspond to 优, 良, 中, 可, and 差 (yōu, liáng, zhōng, kě, chà) or 优, 良, 中, 及格, and 不及格 (yōu, liáng, zhōng, jígé, bùjígé), i.e. excellent, good, middle, pass, and poor/fail. Grades in Japan follow a similar system.

[edit] See also

• Chinese numerals

[edit] Notes

1. ^ William McNaughton. Reading and Writing Chinese. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1979.

[edit] External links

• Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches - Hong Kong Observatory