Trigram ☰

Qian 乾: Heaven

Symbol

☰ 乾

Natural image

Heaven

Quality

the creative, strong

Family role

Father

Lines, bottom to top

111 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

A trigram is a stack of three lines. Each hexagram is two trigrams: one below (the lower, inner or earlier situation) and one above (the upper, outer or later situation). Qian appears in sixteen of the sixty-four hexagrams, eight times as the upper trigram and eight as the lower.

Qian as the upper trigram

• 1 The Creative
• 6 Conflict
• 10 Treading
• 12 Standstill
• 13 Fellowship
• 25 Innocence
• 33 Retreat
• 44 Coming to Meet

Qian as the lower trigram

• 1 The Creative
• 5 Waiting
• 9 Small Taming
• 11 Peace
• 14 Great Possession
• 26 Great Taming
• 34 Great Power
• 43 Breakthrough

See also the eight trigrams.

Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Qian 乾: Heaven." https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/qian (updated 2026-10-07).

The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at /data are licensed CC BY 4.0.

Updated October 7, 2026. Markdown version