The Traditional Chinese Lunar Calendar is associated with the 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches.

 

The Heavenly Stems (天干)

The First Component of a Year’s Name are the Heavenly Stems which represents the Five Elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth):

Heavenly Stem	Stem name	in Chinese	in pinyin
1st heavenly stem	jia	甲	jiǎ
2nd heavenly stem	yi	乙	yǐ
3rd heavenly stem	bing	丙	bǐng
4th heavenly stem	ding	丁	dīng
5th heavenly stem	wu	戊	wù
6th heavenly stem	ji	己	jǐ
7th heavenly stem	geng	庚	gēng
8th heavenly stem	xin	辛	xīn
9th heavenly stem	ren	壬	rén
10th heavenly stem	gui	癸	guǐ

 

The Earthly Braches (地支)

The Second Compoent of the year’s name are the Earthly Branches which is associated with the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals

Earthly Branch	Branch name	in Chinese	in pinyin	Zodiac Animals
1st earthly branch	zi	子	zǐ	Rat
2nd earthly branch	chou	丑	chǒu	Ox
3rd earthly branch	yin	寅	yín	Tiger
4th earthly branch	mao	卯	mǎo	Rabbit
5th earthly branch	chen	辰	chén	Dragon
6th earthly branch	si	巳	sì	Snake
7th earthly branch	wu	午	wǔ	Horse
8th earthly branch	wei	未	wèi	Goat
9th earthly branch	shen	申	shēn	Monkey
10th earthly branch	you	酉	yǒu	Rooster
11th earthly branch	xu	戌	xū	Dog
12th earthly branch	hai	亥	hài	Boar

 

 

Find Out More About the Traditional Chinese Lunar Calendar here

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