Chinese zodiac signs

Chinese zodiac signs and their meaning: the 12 animals

Chinese zodiac signs years and dates

Each year begins at Lunar New Year. The table lists the animal, element and exact dates of every year from 1966 to 2037.

The five elements

The ten Heavenly Stems give each year an element and a yin or yang polarity; the twelve Earthly Branches give the animal. Together they form the 60-year sexagenary cycle, so a Fire Horse year returns only every 60 years.

Chinese zodiac signs compatibility

Traditional compatibility rests on the wheel of twelve branches. The four “trines” (animals four places apart) are the most harmonious groups; each animal also has one “secret friend” (six harmonies) and one opposite it clashes with.

Animals of the months and hours

The same twelve branches also name the solar months (starting with the Tiger at Lichun, about February 4) and the twelve two-hour periods of the day. In Four Pillars (BaZi) astrology, the year, month, day and hour animals are all used.

Chinese zodiac in other countries

Vietnam uses the Cat instead of the Rabbit and the Water Buffalo for the Ox. Japan and Korea use the same twelve animals, with the Boar in Japan. Japanese zodiac · Korean zodiac.

The legend of the Great Race

The best-known story says the Jade Emperor held a race across a river and named the years after the animals in the order they arrived. The Rat rode on the Ox and jumped ahead to win; the Cat, pushed into the water by the Rat, never arrived, which is said to be why cats chase rats. The story explains the order; historically, the animal cycle is attested on bamboo slips from the 3rd century BCE.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Chinese zodiac
• Hong Kong Observatory: Gregorian–lunar calendar conversion