Heavenly stem 3
丙 Bing, Fire
The Tianwen xun places Fire in the south and associates it with summer. Its stem pair is Bing and Ding.
Stem pairs in chapter 3 ↗Chinese year
Every year has two names: a stem and an animal. Find yours.
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From Hong Kong Observatory’s tables, 1901–2100.
February 17, 2026
Fire Horse
Bing-Wu, pair 43 of 60
Lunar month 1, day 1
In the year whose Lunar New Year falls in 2026.
- Year begins
- February 17, 2026
- Year ends
- February 5, 2027
Earthly branch 7
午 Wu, Horse
The animal follows the branch. The five Wu pairs share it, one for each phase.
The animal-cycle convention ↗A reflection
A horse moves across an open field. There is room to gather momentum, but the scene also asks about direction, companionship and a place to rest.
Where is your momentum taking you?
Alongside Fire: What are you giving your energy to, and when does it need replenishing?
Write about itAll stems and branches
The ten stems
甲1 · JiaWood
乙2 · YiWood
丙3 · BingFire
丁4 · DingFire
戊5 · WuEarth
己6 · JiEarth
庚7 · GengMetal
辛8 · XinMetal
壬9 · RenWater
癸10 · GuiWater
The twelve branches
子1 · ZiRat
丑2 · ChouOx
寅3 · YinTiger
卯4 · MaoRabbit
辰5 · ChenDragon
巳6 · SiSnake
午7 · WuHorse
未8 · WeiGoat
申9 · ShenMonkey
酉10 · YouRooster
戌11 · XuDog
亥12 · HaiPig
We say Rat where the Observatory’s introduction says “mouse”, and Goat for the animal also translated as sheep or ram. The branch characters are the same.
The five phases
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water are often called the five elements, or wuxing. Here the year’s heavenly stem sets the element. The Huainanzi’s chapter on celestial patterns pairs Jia–Yi with Wood, Bing–Ding with Fire, Wu–Ji with Earth, Geng–Xin with Metal and Ren–Gui with Water.
The short descriptions above follow that chapter’s directions and seasons, from a Chinese transcription. The reflection questions are our own. These five are not the four elements of Cosmos.
Source tables
Dates come from the Observatory’s daily tables, January 1, 1901 to December 31, 2100.
Use a saved year label in self-study
Lunar New Year in the calendar
Limits of the tables
One missing entry in the 2069 text file, December 30, is supplied from HKO’s printed table: lunar month 11, day 17. The start of the Chinese year underway on the first date, and the end of the one underway on the last, fall outside the tables.
HKO notes that future new moons near midnight may shift a published lunar date by a day, around September 28, 2057, September 4, 2089 and August 7, 2097. This tool follows the tables as published.