Liang Qichao

Bing (丙) Fire born in the Yin (寅) month, with Wood feeding Fire: in traditional destiny analysis, “Wood and Fire bright and clear” signifies literary talent and the light of ideas. Looking back over Liang Qichao’s life, with his vast body of writing and commentary that swept the era, works such as On the New Citizen and Ode to Young China enlightened an entire generation, a retrospective footnote to the image of Wood and Fire shining brightly.

The Bingwu (丙午) day pillar sits on the Goat Blade: brimming with talent yet quick-tempered, he argued politics passionately and repeatedly advanced and retreated throughout his life. The Indirect Resource in the month pillar suggests unconventional thinking: from reform, to “renewing the citizen,” to saving the nation through scholarship, his intellectual path shifted often yet always stayed at the forefront of the times. With Wood and Fire overly strong and little Earth to hold them in, this can be observed from the angle of “great talent, little depth of restraint.”