Table
Origin
The Shang people had a myth in which there were ten suns, each of which appears in order in a ten-day cycle . The Heavenly Stems were the names of the ten suns and were found in the kings' of the Shang given names. Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans, but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa. The association to Yin Yang and the Five Elements occurred later, after the collapse of the Shang Dynasty.
The literal meaning of the characters was roughly as follows:
Current usage
The Stems are still commonly used nowadays in China in counting systems similar to the way the alphabet is used in , namely,
* Students' grades: with an additional ''Yōu'' before ''Jiǎ'' .
* Names in legal documents and contracts where English speakers would use A, B, C, etc.
* Choices on multiple choice exams, surveys, etc.
* Naming of s
* Naming of diseases
* Naming of sports leagues
* Vitamins' names
* Naming characters entertaining a dialogue in a short text
China, Korea and Japan also use heavenly stems on legal documents in this way. In Korea, letters ''gap'' and ''eul'' are consistently used to denote the larger and the smaller contractor in a legal contract, and are sometimes used as synonyms for such; such usage is common in the Korean industry.
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