Xin

The oracle glyph of Xin is a graver's knife — the very tool of ancient tattoo punishment, which is why the character has hurt built in: "acrid," "toilsome," "bitter" all descend from that blade. The Shuowen: "Xin — autumn, when all things ripen; Metal's hardness, pungent in flavor."

Its element image is Yin Metal: jade, gold and silver, fine-wrought jewelry. Against Geng's raw ore, Xin is the finished piece — born quality-conscious, presentation-minded, allergic to flaws.

Xin's Lu is in You, peaking through autumn. Yin Metal wants clarity and moisture: it loves Ren Water's rinse (mud washed off, luster self-evident) and dreads Ding's furnace (a finished piece cannot survive re-smelting) and burial under Ji Earth (soil breeds metal, but too much dulls it with dust).

The Di Tian Sui: "Xin Metal, soft and delicate, warm, moist and clear; it fears piled Earth and delights in brimming Water." The key word is clear — the "clear metal, sparkling water" chart gives elegance and taste; Earth-buried metal turns murky, its talent smothered under clutter.

Bing combines with Xin into Water — the "combination of awe and restraint": the fiercest light locked to the most lustrous metal. For Xin the bargain cuts both ways — under Bing's sun the jewel dazzles, yet from then on it orbits the sun and forfeits its own path.

Xin clashes with Yi: scissors against flowers, and Xin holds the handle. It rarely loses this exchange — but scissors facing a whole forest of Yi will chip all the same.

On the day stem Xin is the Xin Metal Day Master — the jewel personality, read fully on that page. Elsewhere by Ten God: to Yi Wood, Seven Killings (the close-quarters scissors Yi fears most); to Gui Water, Indirect Resource; to Bing Fire, Direct Wealth and combination partner — for a Bing Day Master, this Wealth star comes with built-in magnetism.

Xin's most celebrated pairing is the rinse: Xin beside Ren Water is the jewel bathed in spring water — brilliance, clarity and refined standing. The classics count it among the marks of high distinction.

Eighth in order, Xin lives in daily Chinese through taste and toil: acrid, arduous, bittersweet. Among the Five Flavors, pungent belongs to Metal — medicine still teaches that the pungent flavor enters the lungs, the Metal organ.

History's most famous Xin year is Xin-Hai, 1911 — the Xinhai Revolution carries its stem-branch date into every textbook. The eighth stem opens the story of modern China.