A fountain in Almaty represnting the 12 animals of the (Kazakh version of the) animal cycle

The Earthly Branches (Chinese: 地支; pinyin: dìzhī; or Chinese: 十二支; pinyin: shíèrzhī; literally "twelve branches") provide one Chinese system for reckoning time. Almaty ( Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata ( Алма-Ата) also Verniy, (Верный is the largest city in Kazakhstan Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National For other uses see Time (disambiguation Time is a component of a measuring system used to sequence events to compare the durations of

This system was built from observations of the orbit of Jupiter. Chinese astronomers divided the celestial circle into 12 sections to follow the orbit of 歳星 Suìxīng (Jupiter, the Year Star). Astronomers rounded the orbit of Suixing to 12 years (from 11. 86). Suixing was associated with Sheti (ɳ Böotes) and sometimes called Sheti.

In correlative thinking, the twelve years of the Jupiter cycle also identify the twelve months of the year, twelve animals (mnemonics for the system), directions, seasons, months, and Chinese hour in the form of double-hours. A mnemonic device (nəˈmɒnɪk is a Memory aid Commonly met mnemonics are often verbal something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember Chinese units of measurement ( are the customary and traditional units of measure used in the People's Republic of China. When a Branch is used for a double hour, the listed periods are meant. When used for an exact time of a day, it is the center of the period. For instance, 午 (the Horse) means noon or a period from 11am to 1pm. (The jie qi system provided single hours and 15-degree arcs in time and space. )

Chinese seasons are based on observations of the sun and stars, not the weather. A season is one of the major divisions of the Year, generally based on yearly periodic changes in Weather. The weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given Atmosphere at a given Time. Many Chinese calendrical systems have started the new year on the first new moon after the winter solstice. This article is about the lunar phase for other uses see New Moon (disambiguation. The traditional East Asian calendars divide a year into 24 Solar terms (節氣

The Earthly Branches are today used with the Heavenly Stems in the current version of the "traditional calendar" and in Taoism. The ten Celestial Stems ( sometimes known as Heavenly Stems, are the elements of an ancient Chinese cyclic character Numeral system: Jia (甲 Yi (乙 The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, incorporating elements of a Lunar calendar with those of a Solar calendar. Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions The Ganzhi (Stem-Branch) combination is a fairly new way to mark time; in the Shang era it was the ten Heavenly Stems that provided the names of the days of the week. The ten Celestial Stems ( sometimes known as Heavenly Stems, are the elements of an ancient Chinese cyclic character Numeral system: Jia (甲 Yi (乙 The Branches are as old as the Stems (and according to recent archaeology may actually be older), but the Stems were tied to the ritual calendars of Chinese kings. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos They were not part of the calendrical systems of the majority of Chinese.

Some cultures assign different animals: Vietnam replaces the ox, rabbit, and sheep with the water buffalo, cat, and goat respectively; Japan replaces the pig with the wild boar. The traditional East Asian calendars divide a year into 24 Solar terms (節氣 The Ox ( 牛) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Tiger ( 虎) associated with good fortune power and royalty is viewed with both fear and respect The Rabbit ( 兔) is the fourth animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. An equinox is the event of the Sun passing over the Earth's equator in its annual cycle The Dragon ( 龍) is the only mythical creature in the Chinese zodiac The Snake ( 蛇) (also known as the Serpent) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese The Horse ( 馬) is the seventh of the 12 animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Sheep ( 羊) (also known as Goat or Ram) is the eighth sign of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac The Monkey ( 猴) is one of the 12-year cycle of Animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Rooster ( 酉) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. An equinox is the event of the Sun passing over the Earth's equator in its annual cycle The Dog ( 狗) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Hai ( 亥) is the twelfth sign of the Earthly Branches. Its animal representation is the Boar ( 豬) Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.

Directions

The 24 cardinal directions.

Even though Chinese has words for the four cardinal directions - 北 (běi, north), 東 (dōng, east), 南 (nán, south), and 西 (xī, west) - Chinese mariners and astronomers/astrologers preferred using the twelve directions of the Earthly Branches, which is somewhat similar to the modern-day practice of English-speaking pilots using o'clock for directions. Historically Astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky while Astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena An astrologer practices one or more forms of Astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a Horoscope for the time of an event such as a person's birth and interprets Since twelve points were not enough for sailing, twelve midpoints were added. Instead of combining two adjacent direction names, they assigned new names as follows:

• For the four diagonal directions, appropriate trigram names of I Ching were used. The I Ching ( Wade-Giles) or “Yì Jīng” ( Pinyin) also called “Classic of Changes” or “Book of Changes” is one of the oldest of the
• For the rest, the Heavenly Stems were used. According to the Five Elements theory, east is assigned to wood, and the Stems of wood are 甲 (jiǎ) and 乙 (yǐ). Thus they were assigned clockwise to the two adjacent points of the east.

Following is a table of the 24 directions:

Advanced mariners such as Zhèng Hé used 48-point compasses. Zheng He ( Birth name 馬三寶 / 马三宝; Arabic / Persian name حجّي محمود شمس Hajji Mahmud Shams) (1371&ndash1433 was a Hui An additional midpoint was called by a combination of its two closest basic directions, such as 丙午 (bǐngwǔ) for the direction of 172. 5°, the midpoint between 丙 (bǐng), 165°, and 午 (wǔ), 180°.

See also

• Sexagesimal cycle (干支)
• Chinese calendar
• Image:Chinese cardinal directions study panel.pdf (A study of the cardinal directions chart)

External links

• Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches - Hong Kong Observatory