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Six Qi
Study the six climatic qi, their seasonal steps, and the Sitian-Zaiquan pattern.
Objective: Explain the six qi sequence and how it organizes seasonal climate interpretation.
Lessons
The six qi sequence
Objective: Name the six qi and place them within the six-step seasonal cycle.
The six qi divide the year into six steps, each associated with a classical climate quality. Together they organize seasonal structure more finely than a simple four-season calendar.
Learning the order of the six qi helps you read step tables, solar-term anchors, and guest-host grids without treating any single step as a diagnosis.
Remember: six-qi language is a teaching scaffold. Pair it with source notes and the site’s wellness boundary.
Sitian and Zaiquan
Objective: Understand how Sitian and Zaiquan frame the upper and lower halves of a year.
Sitian (above) and zaiquan (below) describe a pair of roles that structure the upper and lower halves of the year’s qi pattern in the classical model. They are not “good luck / bad luck” labels.
When a tool shows sitian and zaiquan, read them as a layered annual frame that interacts with the year’s movement and with each step’s guest-host pair.
Always keep the educational boundary: the pair helps orientation; it does not prescribe medicine.
Common questions
- What is the difference between host qi and sitian?
- Host qi is the fixed step baseline; sitian is a year-level role in the classical upper/lower framing. They answer different questions in the model.
- Why do step names sound like channel names?
- Classical nomenclature is shared across systems. Here the terms name qi steps in the climate model, not a channel diagnosis.
Related Terms
Next lesson
Five Movements
Learn how the five movements describe annual change, circulation, and excess or deficiency.
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