What is my Chinese sign?
The Chinese sign depends on the lunar year, which begins between 21 January and 20 February: a birth in January or February often belongs to the previous year. Enter your date; the calculation uses the Chinese New Year of your year.
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The twelve signs
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Each carries traditional character traits — the cunning of the Rat, the tenacity of the Ox, the courage of the Tiger, the gentleness of the Rabbit, the charisma of the Dragon, the wisdom of the Snake, the freedom of the Horse, the sensitivity of the Goat, the cleverness of the Monkey, the precision of the Rooster, the loyalty of the Dog and the generosity of the Pig.
The Chinese year does not begin on 1 January but between late January and mid-February, following the lunisolar calendar: someone born in January may therefore belong to the previous year's sign.
The five elements
Each sign is also combined with one of the five elements of Chinese cosmology — wood, fire, earth, metal and water — which rotate on a ten-year cycle. Together they produce a full sixty-year cycle before the same sign-and-element pairing returns.
A cultural tradition
Chinese astrology is above all a living cultural tradition, celebrated each year at Lunar New Year across China, Vietnam, Korea and the diaspora. Like the other practices in this section, it has no demonstrated predictive value.
Try it for two
These compatibility readings — zodiac signs, Chinese signs, Vedic astrology, biorhythms, first names, life path — are gathered and calculated for two people on the Love compatibility page.
The full cycle
The Chinese zodiac assigns twelve animals to a twelve-year cycle: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. The legend tells of a race organised by the Jade Emperor, whose finishing order set the order of the years.
Layered onto that cycle are the five elements and a yin-yang alternation, which produces sixty combinations. Each combination therefore returns only once in a human lifetime, which is why the sixtieth birthday carries such weight in several East Asian cultures.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't my animal match my birth year?
Because the Chinese year does not start on 1 January but at the lunar new year, between 21 January and 20 February depending on the year. Anyone born in January or early February therefore belongs to the previous year's sign. It is the single most common error.
What are the five elements?
Wood, fire, earth, metal and water: each year combines an animal with an element, producing a full cycle of sixty years rather than twelve. A wood dragon and a fire dragon are held to be quite different. That is why the simplified twelve-animal version, the only one widely known in the West, is considered incomplete in Asia.
Are the compatibilities taken seriously?
Socially they are, in several East Asian countries, where they still come up in family discussions around a marriage — and birth rates measurably shift in years thought favourable or unfavourable. That says something about the force of a shared belief, not about the validity of the prediction.