Four Pillars Year & Sexagenary Cycle
六十花甲 liùshí huājiǎ or
干支gānzhī

Within the Four Pillars (Ba Zi) Years are the largest element. They are the most generic and least personal in fortune telling. The years are based off of the Ten Heavenly Stems (十天干 shí tiāngān) and Twelve Earthly Branches (十二地支 shí'èr dìzhī).

There are 5 'Elements', 五行 wǔ​xíng​ in Chinese Astrology,

* Wood 木 mù
* Fire 火 huǒ
* Earth 土 tǔ
* Metal 金 jīn
* Water 水 shuǐ

These 5 elements combine with yin and yang to make the Ten Heavenly stems 天干 tiāngān.

The 12 earthly branches were devised from the orbit of Jupiter (the twelve years of the Jupiter cycle also identify the twelve months of the year, directions, seasons, months, and Chinese hour in the form of double-hours.)

The more commonly known animals of the zodiac provide a mnemonic for remembering them. The animals of the zodiac in addition to the Ten Heavenly Stems give us 60 years with each animal and each element pairing up only once in the sexagenary cycle.

To explain how this cycle works, lets give both stems and branches by their numbers. We denote 1 by (1,1) or (甲,子), 2 by (2,2) or (乙,丑) and so on up to (10,10) or (癸,酉). But now we have run out of stems, so we denote 11 by (1, 11) or (甲,戌) and 12 by (2, 12) or (乙,亥). Now we have run out of branches, too, so 13 becomes (3, 1) or (丙,子). We continue in this way through 6 cycles of stems and 5 cycles of branches up to 60, which is (10, 12) or (癸,亥). The next number is then (1,1) or (甲,子), which starts a new sexagenary cycle.

Within the Four Pillars, the year is the pillar representing information about the person's ancestry or early age.

You can download the table below by clicking the image and saving the pdf. It provides the full sexagenary cycles between 1924-2044 with the associated elements and zodiac animals.

Four Pillars of Destiny

Even today, when people talk about Chinese Astrology, it is a common misconception that the animals assigned by year are the only signs of the zodiac. Many western descriptions of Chinese astrology draw solely on this system. In fact, there are also animal signs assigned by month (called inner animals) and hours of the day (called secret animals).

Four Pillars of Destiny is a Chinese term that comprises of four elements of a person’s destiny or fate. The four components are taken from the moment of birth. They are the year, month, day, and time (hour). Each of these elements are important in Chinese astrology, the zodiac and fortune telling.

The term Four Pillars of Destiny come from the Chinese:

I recently got a comment on my Heisig post from a while back asking how I was doing (as today was supposed to be my finish date if I had kept up with my proposed schedule).

I have got to admit I have been lazy, or if you like excuses; I have been so busy that I have ended up ignoring what I wanted to achieve. I have got about 600 characters into Heisigs method and despite a lot of effort have found my motivation waning. I read Greg's recent post about motivation in language learning add that to the sense of guilt I feelby not meeting my own deadline and I feel a much renewed sense of wanting to complete Heisig and start really pushing my learning forwards again.

It is being widely reported that this looks like Google removing their censorship in China. What I see though, is Google finding a way to remove itself from the problems it faces in China.

"We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China." Google blog post

Here is to a wonderful Christmas and English new years holiday to everyone that has supported me this year. I will be back in the new year, with renewed efforts to learn Mandarin. In the mean time, all my best wishes for a peaceful, wonderful time this Christmas.

I came across this Chinese proverb today. I am completely confused as to its usage. Funny imagery though. I couldn't find a picture to do this proverb justice either. Maybe it is just a way to express one's anger.

The following article is written by Karen, who lives in Canada and is part of my growing series of Guest Posts from people I have met online that are also Learning Mandarin. She founded the Chen Pan Ling Kuo Shu Preservation Group in Atlanta, Georgia with a friend. Without martial arts, she would never have started learning Chinese.

This Chinese proverb is the same as the English proverb 'what's done is done' or 'Let bygones be bygones'. It means that things are too late noe to do anything about them. In this situation, it is wise to forgive and be prepared to move forwards positivley as it's too late to change anything now.

In this situation; the rice is cooked. It cannot now be uncooked, therefore this proverb talks about how you must let things be as they cannot be changed after it is happened. Just your attitude and perception of the event can be changed.

生米煮成熟饭
shēng ​mǐ ​zhǔ​ chéng ​shú ​fàn​
the rice is cooked

This Chinese proverb has a strong meaning for me today. It is the first anniversary of my girlfriend and I going out together. This proverb talks about how time flies, and resembles an arrow.

My first year with my girlfriend has gone scarily quickly, yet also seems like I have known her this way forever.

光阴似箭
guāng ​yīn ​sì ​jiàn​
time flies like an arrow

This Chinese proverb relates to when you keep business seperate from private issues. It means keeping your private interests seperate from business, no matter what.

公事公办
gōng​ shì ​gōng ​bàn​
Business is Business

This Chinese proverb is in a similiar vein to the English proverb 'to bear ones cross'. Which means - to accept trials or troubles patiently, as in the story of Jesus carrying his cross.

含辛茹苦
hán ​xīn ​rú ​kǔ​
to suffer every possible torment

This Chinese proverb is similiar to the English proverb "All roads to Rome". It means that there are many ways to go about things and there is no one right way to do it. This is very relavant when talking about how people learn Mandarin. There are so many different ways to learn, and none is 'one and only correct way' all the different methods are valid.

殊途同归
shū tú tóng guī
different routes to the same destination

This Chinese proverb can be used in situations where you are in high spirits. This proverb means to be elated, really happy, I imagine people would use this before and during festivities.

This Chinese proverb when broken down literally means 'three heads and six arms'. It is metaphorical of being above the ability of a normal man. I think this can be used in situations where someone does something so far beyond what was expected of them that it was a 'superhuman' effort.

These two Chinese proverbs are very much like the English pairs of proverbs that contradict each other.

Personally I feel that sometimes when you are really struggling to do something you end up making a mess of it by overthinking it. Yet times where you are relaxed you end up being more productive.

This Chinese proverb is about how things in order are perfect and methodical. For me it is a strong signifier of the historical Chinese figure Qin Shi Huangdi unifying the country. The emperor gave the unified empire a single currency, a standardised system of weights and measures and a legal system and introduced a common written language.

This Chinese proverb is in stark contrast to 不劳而获. The English equivalent to this proverb is no pain, no gain. It says without the work, there is no harvest.

This proverb is about how a good education program takes a long time to develop. It also makes me think about the methods I am using to learning Mandarin which are quite disseperate and not like a traditional syllabus.

Also interestingly, our education programs tend to be very un-environmentally friendly using a lot of paper and resources to sustain it.