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Dragon in a traditional Chinese landscape

Earthly branch 5 of 12

Dragon 辰 Branch: Hours 07:00–08:59, Earth & Trine

辰 Chen is branch 5 of 12: the Dragon, Yang Earth, hours 07:00–08:59, month opening at Qīngmíng 清明. It clashes with Dog and joins the Water trine with Monkey and Rat.

辰Chen

What 辰 names

  • 01

    The hour

    07:00–08:59

    Traditionally the hour dragons were said to fly and make the morning rain.

  • 02

    The month

    清明 Qīngmíng

    Clear and Bright opens it — month 3 counted from 立春, not from January.

  • 03

    The direction

    East-southeast

    The twelve branches divide the compass as they divide the day.

  • 04

    The phase

    Earth

    十二支五行 — the phase the branch itself carries.

Inside 辰: season and hidden stems

spring · yang Earth. The branch contains 戊 (primary earth), 乙 (middle wood), 癸 (residual water). Compare the full hidden-stem register →

All branch memberships

Its fixed relations

  • 冲 · Clash

    Dog 戌

    Six places opposite, so the two never share a season or an hour.

  • 六合 · Six harmony

    Rooster 酉

    One of six pairs whose positions balance across the cycle.

  • 三合 · Trine

    Monkey · Rat · Dragon

    Four places apart, governing the Water phase together.

The Dragon in the Great Race

Place5of 12

The only racer that could have flown the river in a moment, and it stopped on the way to bring rain to a village that needed it. Finishing fifth is the point of the story rather than a failure in it.

Read the complete Great Race story →

The five Dragon pillars

  1. Cycle position5戊辰Yang Earth DragonExample year 1988
  2. Cycle position17庚辰Yang Metal DragonExample year 2000
  3. Cycle position29壬辰Yang Water DragonExample year 2012
  4. Cycle position41甲辰Yang Wood DragonExample year 2024
  5. Cycle position53丙辰Yang Fire DragonExample year 2036

Move around the circle

The twelve branches