子 · Rat

zǐ · 鼠 · the first earthly branch

子 zǐ is the first of the twelve earthly branches in BaZi: the Rat, Yang Water. 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. 子 also names the hours from 11pm to 1am and the eleventh month of the solar year, and it clashes with 午, the Horse.

The branch of midnight and midwinter: Water at its most still and concentrated, and the point where the light begins to return. As the first branch it opens every cycle, of hours and of years alike.

The facts

Element

水 Water, Yang

Hours

11pm to 1am

Month

The eleventh month of the solar year

Hidden stems

癸 Yin Water

Clashes

午 Horse · 子午冲

Six combination

丑 → 土 Earth

Three harmony

申子辰 → 水 Water

Seasonal group

亥子丑 → 水 Water

Harm 害

未 Goat

Punishment 刑

卯 Rabbit

Destruction 破

酉 Rooster

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 Rat".
• As the hour 子时, 11pm to 1am, which is why the almanac's hours are named by branch.
• On a clash day: a 午 day clashes anyone whose day or year branch is 子.

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.