Five phases · ten stems · sixty pairings
Read the element inside a Chinese astrology year
A year is not named by its animal alone. Its Heavenly Stem gives it Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water and a yin or yang polarity; its Earthly Branch gives it the animal.
- Stem
- phase + polarity
- Branch
- animal + branch position
Start with a year
Find its phase, stem and animal
Enter any civil year to locate its exact position in the repeating 60-year stem–branch sequence.
2032
Yang Water Rat
This civil-year lookup labels a cycle year. A birth-date profile also applies the Chinese New Year boundary, so a January birth can belong to the previous cycle year.
The generating sequence
Follow all five phases
Each guide opens the phase's stems, branches, cycle positions and relationships. The order below shows which phase generates the next.
The complete reference
Browse all 60 year pairings
The sequence is anchored here at Jia-Zi, Yang Wood Rat, in 1984. Add or subtract 60 to reach the same pairing in another era. Open any record to read its stem, branch, Na Yin and repeating year positions together.
- 01–10
Cycle positions
- 11–20
Cycle positions
- 21–30
Cycle positions
- 31–40
Cycle positions
- 41–50
Cycle positions
- 51–60
Cycle positions
One year, two advancing sequences
How the cycle advances
The stem and branch move forward together. Their different sequence lengths meet again at the same starting pair after 60 steps.
Year index(2024 − 4) mod 60 = 40
40 mod 10 = 0甲 JiaYang Wood40 mod 12 = 4辰 ChenDragonA nearby stretch of the cycle
Recent and upcoming years
Two directions, one system
Generating and controlling relationships
Generating describes how one phase nourishes the next. Controlling names the counterweight that keeps another phase in balance.
Five phase pairs
The ten Heavenly Stems
Every phase has one yang stem followed by one yin stem. Together, these ten names supply the phase and polarity for every year in the 60-year cycle.
Quick explanations
Questions about phases and the cycle
How does a year get its element?
Each year takes one of ten Heavenly Stems. The stem pairs a phase — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water — with a yang or yin polarity, so 2024 is Yang Wood and 2025 is Yin Wood. The branch independently supplies the animal.
Why does the cycle last 60 years and not 120?
The ten stems and twelve branches advance together one step per year, and only pairings with matching parity ever occur. The combined sequence therefore repeats after the lowest common multiple of 10 and 12: sixty years.
Why are there two cycles rather than one?
A system with only generating would run away, and one with only controlling would seize up. Together they hold the five phases in balance: each phase feeds the next and restrains the one two places on, so every phase both supports and is supported.