5 Elements
The five Wu Xing elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) are the second half of the Chinese zodiac. The animal sets the character and the element colors it; the full cycle repeats not every 12 years but every 60, because there are five elements and each one lasts two years.
How to Find Your Element
By the last digit of your birth year, adjusted for the year boundary at Lichun (around February 4).
The first year of each pair is yang, the second is yin. For example, 1984 is Yang Wood and 1985 is Yin Wood.
The easiest way to avoid mistakes is the calculator: it accounts for both the digit and the year boundary.
Two Cycles of Relationships
The elements are linked by two cycles, and this is the foundation of all Chinese metaphysics, from the zodiac to feng shui and medicine.
Generating cycle: Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water → Wood. Each element nourishes the next.
Controlling cycle: Wood → Earth → Water → Fire → Metal → Wood. Each element restrains the one two steps ahead of it.
In practice this means that the years of the element that produces yours are considered “good,” and the years of the element that controls yours are considered “difficult.”
Why the Element Matters
Without the element, the twelve signs are too coarse: every Tiger would be the same. The element splits each sign into five variants, giving 60 combinations, and those are what the 60-year cycle table covers.
In the full Chinese system of BaZi there are even more elements: a pairing of animal and element exists not only for the year but also for the month, day and hour of birth. Hence the name, “eight characters.”