Chinese Double-Hour (时辰) Reference Chart
Ancient Chinese timekeeping vs. modern 24-hour clock
Current double-hour
Detects the current double-hour once the page loads
| Double-hour | Modern time | Alias | Active organ | Wellness tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 子时 | 23:00 - 01:00 | 夜半 | 胆 | 宜睡眠，胆经当令 |
| 丑时 | 01:00 - 03:00 | 鸡鸣 | 肝 | 宜熟睡，肝经当令 |
| 寅时 | 03:00 - 05:00 | 平旦 | 肺 | 宜深睡，肺经当令 |
| 卯时 | 05:00 - 07:00 | 日出 | 大肠 | 宜起床排便 |
| 辰时 | 07:00 - 09:00 | 食时 | 胃 | 宜早餐，胃经当令 |
| 巳时 | 09:00 - 11:00 | 隅中 | 脾 | 宜工作学习 |
| 午时 | 11:00 - 13:00 | 日中 | 心 | 宜午休，心经当令 |
| 未时 | 13:00 - 15:00 | 日昳 | 小肠 | 宜消化吸收 |
| 申时 | 15:00 - 17:00 | 哺时 | 膀胱 | 宜运动饮水 |
| 酉时 | 17:00 - 19:00 | 日入 | 肾 | 宜晚餐，肾经当令 |
| 戌时 | 19:00 - 21:00 | 黄昏 | 心包 | 宜散步放松 |
| 亥时 | 21:00 - 23:00 | 人定 | 三焦 | 宜入睡准备 |
How to use
The double-hour (Shichen) system is the ancient Chinese way of keeping time, where each double-hour equals two modern hours. To look up your BaZi (Eight Characters), you can use theBaZi Calculator.
Double-Hour FAQ
Why did ancient people keep time by double-hours (时辰)?
The double-hour system originated from the traditional Chinese Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches timekeeping. The ancients divided a day into 12 equal parts, each named after one of the 12 Earthly Branches (Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai), with each double-hour equal to 2 modern hours. This duodecimal system derived from Jupiter's roughly 12-year orbit and was also used in the calendar, meridian theory of Chinese medicine and BaZi fortune-telling.
What time is "午时三刻" (the third quarter of the Wu hour)?
The Wu hour corresponds to 11:00–13:00 in modern time. A traditional day was divided into 100 ke, so one ke equals about 14.4 minutes. The third quarter of the Wu hour is roughly 43 minutes after 11:00, i.e. around 11:43. Operas and films often say "beheading at the third quarter of the Wu hour", believing that Yang energy is strongest then and can suppress the soul of the dead.
How do double-hours relate to BaZi (Eight Characters) fortune-telling?
The BaZi is composed of four pillars (year, month, day and hour), each pillar using one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch to form eight characters. The "hour pillar" is the Stems-and-Branches of the birth double-hour. If the double-hour is wrong, the BaZi can deviate and affect the accuracy of the reading. To compute a full BaZi from your birth double-hour, you can use theBaZi Calculator。
How do the 12 double-hours correspond to the 12 Chinese zodiac animals?
The 12 Chinese zodiac animals (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig) map one-to-one onto the 12 Earthly Branches: Rat=Zi, Ox=Chou, Tiger=Yin, Rabbit=Mao, Dragon=Chen, Snake=Si, Horse=Wu, Goat=Wei, Monkey=Shen, Rooster=You, Dog=Xu and Pig=Hai. The ancients used the Earthly Branches for both hours and years, so a person's birth-year animal is also the animal symbol of the Earthly Branch of their birth year.