辰 · Dragon

chén · 龙 · the fifth earthly branch

辰 chén is the fifth of the twelve earthly branches in BaZi: the Dragon, Yang Earth. The earthly branches are the lower half of each pillar in a chart, and the branch of the year pillar is your Chinese zodiac animal. 辰 also names the hours from 7 to 9am and the third month of the solar year, and it clashes with 戌, the Dog.

Damp spring earth after the rains, a store of water and wood. 辰 closes the spring quarter and is one of the four earth branches that sit between the seasons.

The facts

Element

土 Earth, Yang

Hours

7 to 9am

Month

The third month of the solar year

Hidden stems

戊 Yang Earth乙 Yin Wood癸 Yin Water

Clashes

戌 Dog · 辰戌冲

Six combination

酉 → 金 Metal

Three harmony

申子辰 → 水 Water

Seasonal group

寅卯辰 → 木 Wood

Harm 害

卯 Rabbit

Punishment 刑

self-punishment 自刑

Destruction 破

丑 Ox

These are the branch relations the engine computes. A clash in a chart is a watch-out, not a verdict, and a combination is not automatically good.

Where you meet it

• As the branch of a pillar. In the year pillar it is the animal people usually mean by "I am a Dragon".
• As the hour 辰时, 7 to 9am, which is why the almanac's hours are named by branch.
• On a clash day: a 戌 day clashes anyone whose day or year branch is 辰.

Careful with the animal. Your BaZi year branch turns at Li Chun, not at Chinese New Year, so a birthday in late January or early February may not be the animal on the red envelope.