Classica Sinica Medica

堅成 简体 坚成

jiān chéng

Hard Completion · jian cheng

Also rendered: Hard Completion (this site; 堅 is firmness past the useful and 成 is being brought to form, so the name is a harvest finished to the point of rigour) · Jian cheng (transliteration; how the name appears in tables of the fifteen circuits)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-13

At a glance

Pinyin
jiān chéng
Simplified
坚成
Literal
堅 jiān — hard, firm to the point of rigour (《說文》: 堅，剛也); 成 chéng — to complete, to bring to its finished form (《說文》: 成，就也). 堅成 is metal in excess: the reaping brought to a hardness past its due, the harvest that is finished to the point of drying. The chapter's 紀 name for it is 收引, the gathering drawn in tight, answering 折收, which is what a short metal's 紀 is called.
Shuowen
**「堅成」本篇2見：一在「金曰堅成」，一在「堅成之紀」**；**《說文》：堅，剛也；成，就也**；**「是謂收引」本篇1見，即堅成之紀之名**；**「天氣潔，地氣明」本篇1見、「收氣繁布」本篇1見，皆堅成之文**；**「其藏肺肝」本篇1見，金太過兼及所勝之木**

In brief

Metal going to excess. 金曰堅成 — metal is called hard completion — and its 紀 is 收引: 堅成之紀，是謂收引。天氣潔，地氣明，陽氣隨陰治化，燥行其政，物以司成，收氣繁布，化洽不終. The qi of heaven is clean and the qi of earth clear, the yang follows the yin in governing, the dry carries out its governance, things are brought to their completion by it, the reaping qi spreads thickly, and the transforming reaches everywhere and does not finish — the last clause is the excess showing: autumn does the whole year’s work and leaves nothing for winter. Its attributes: 其化成，其氣削，其政肅，其令鋭切，其動暴折瘍疰，其德霧露蕭飋，其變肅殺凋零…其象秋，其經手太陰陽明，其藏肺肝…其病喘喝，胸憑仰息. Its viscera are the lung and the liver — the metal and the wood it withholds from — and its illness is the breath that cannot be let out: 喘喝, gasping and hoarse.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graph 堅成
堅者剛也，成者就也
金曰堅成 — Suwen 70
2
Its 紀 name 收引
收者聚也，引者斂也，金盛則收引過甚
堅成之紀，是謂收引 — Suwen 70
3
Its opening 天氣潔，地氣明
天潔地明，清肅之象
天氣潔，地氣明 — Suwen 70
4
Its weather 收氣繁布，化洽不終
收氣密布，化及萬物而終不成
收氣繁布，化洽不終 — Suwen 70
5
Its paired viscera 其藏肺肝
金太過則兼及所勝之木
其藏肺肝 — Suwen 70
6
What it brings 其病喘喝，胸憑仰息
燥金過斂，故氣喘而胸滿
其病喘喝，胸憑仰息 — Suwen 70

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

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1 passages
Suwen 70 Suwen 70 · 五常政大論 Read in context →
堅成之紀，是謂收引。天氣潔，地氣明，陽氣隨陰治化，燥行其政，物以司成，收氣繁布，化洽不終，其化成，其氣削，其政肅，其令鋭切，其動暴折瘍疰，其德霧露蕭飋，其變肅殺凋零，其榖稻黍，其畜雞馬，其果桃杏，其色白青丹，其味辛酸苦，其象秋，其經手太陰陽明，其藏肺肝，其蟲介羽，其物殻絡，其病喘喝，胸憑仰息。 坚成之纪，是谓收引。天气洁，地气明，阳气随阴治化，燥行其政，物以司成，收气繁布，化洽不终，其化成，其气削，其政肃，其令锐切，其动暴折疡疰，其德雾露萧飋，其变肃杀凋零，其谷稻黍，其畜鸡马，其果桃杏，其色白青丹，其味辛酸苦，其象秋，其经手太阴阳明，其藏肺肝，其虫介羽，其物壳络，其病喘喝，胸凭仰息。
Jiān chéng zhī jì, shì wèi shōu yǐn. Tiān qì jié, dì qì míng, yáng qì suí yīn zhì huà, zào xíng qí zhèng, wù yǐ sī chéng, shōu qì fán bù, huà qià bù zhōng, qí huà chéng, qí qì xuē, qí zhèng sù, qí lìng ruì qiè, qí dòng bào zhé yáng zhù, qí dé wù lù xiāo sè, qí biàn sù shā diāo líng, qí gǔ dào shǔ, qí chù jī mǎ, qí guǒ táo xìng, qí sè bái qīng dān, qí wèi xīn suān kǔ, qí xiàng qiū, qí jīng shǒu tài yīn yáng míng, qí zàng fèi gān, qí chóng jiè yǔ, qí wù qiào luò, qí bìng chuǎn hè, xiōng píng yǎng xī.
The era of Hard Completion is called gathering and drawing in: the qi of heaven is clean and the qi of earth clear, the yang qi follows the yin in ordering and transforming, dryness carries out its governance, beings are thereby brought to completion, the qi of harvest spreads densely, and its transformation reaches through without ending. Its transformation completion, its qi pared down, its governance severe, its command sharp and keen, its movement sudden breaking, sores and fixity, its virtue mist, dew and soughing wind, its change flaying and withering, its grain rice and glutinous millet, its domestic animal the fowl and the horse, its fruit the peach and the apricot, its colour white, blue-green and vermilion, its flavour acrid, sour and bitter, its image autumn, its channels the hand greater yin and yang brightness, its viscera the lung and liver, its creature the shelled and the feathered, its thing husk and network, its illness panting and hoarseness, the chest propped and breathing with the head thrown back.
**「堅成」本篇2見：一在「金曰堅成」，一在「堅成之紀」**；**此段以「收引」名其紀，「天氣潔，地氣明」為其開端**；**「化洽不終」一句最見太過：收氣繁布而化不及終，秋盡歲功而冬無所留**；**「其病喘喝」本篇1見，喝讀 hè；次段「邪傷肺也」**

Compounds built on this term

審平
shěn píng
even judgement
本篇2見；金之平氣，與堅成對
從革
cóng gé
following change
本篇2見；金不及之名，其紀曰折收
收引
shōu yǐn
the gathering drawn in
本篇1見；堅成之紀之名，與折收相對
其藏肺肝
qí zàng fèi gān
its viscera the lung and liver
本篇1見；五太過之藏皆二

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This sitehard completionthe reaping done and overdone; the rendering keeps the hardness, which is what 收引 turns into
Transliterationjian chengright about the referent, and it explains nothing about hardness or completion
Descriptivemetal going to excessexact, and it loses the name the sentence 金曰堅成 uses as a subject

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2026-10-13

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