申 · Monkey

shēn · 猴 · the ninth earthly branch

申 shēn is the ninth of the twelve earthly branches in BaZi: the Monkey, Yang Metal. 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. 申 also names the hours from 3 to 5pm and the seventh month of the solar year, and it clashes with 寅, the Tiger.

Late afternoon at the start of autumn, when the air cools and metal hardens. 申 is the gate from summer into autumn, carrying water within it.

The facts

Element

金 Metal, Yang

Hours

3 to 5pm

Month

The seventh month of the solar year

Hidden stems

庚 Yang Metal壬 Yang Water戊 Yang Earth

Clashes

寅 Tiger · 寅申冲

Six combination

巳 → 水 Water

Three harmony

申子辰 → 水 Water

Seasonal group

申酉戌 → 金 Metal

Harm 害

亥 Pig

Punishment 刑

寅 Tiger巳 Snake

Destruction 破

巳 Snake

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 Monkey".
• As the hour 申时, 3 to 5pm, which is why the almanac's hours are named by branch.
• On a clash day: a 寅 day clashes anyone whose day or year branch is 申.

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.