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All 12 Chinese Zodiac Signs
Click any sign to learn about personality, compatibility, famous people, and annual fortune.
Traditional Chinese Astrology
Discover your Chinese animal sign, five element, and GanZhi year. We use LiChun — the accurate traditional method that most sites get wrong.
Day, month, and year are all you need.
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Chinese vs Western Astrology
Lucky Numbers & Colors
This calculator uses traditional Chinese metaphysics. Results are for cultural reference and entertainment only, not professional advice.
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Click any sign to learn about personality, compatibility, famous people, and annual fortune.
Most Chinese zodiac websites use the Lunar New Year (Spring Festival) as the year boundary. This is incorrect for professional Chinese astrology.
Traditional BaZi (Four Pillars of Destiny) practitioners — the foundation of Chinese metaphysics — have always used LiChun (立春), the Start of Spring solar term, as the zodiac year boundary. This is based on solar position, not the lunar calendar.
If you were born in January or early February, there's a real chance you have a different sign than other calculators show you. Ours gets it right.
The Chinese Zodiac (生肖, Shēngxiào) is a 12-year cycle where each year is represented by an animal: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each animal carries specific personality traits, elemental associations, and compatibility patterns rooted in thousands of years of Chinese cultural tradition.
Western astrology assigns a sign based on your birth month (roughly 30-day sun signs). Chinese Zodiac assigns a sign based on your birth year. However, professional Chinese astrology (BaZi) goes much deeper — your month, day, and hour of birth each have their own animal and element, forming a complete "Four Pillars" destiny chart. Think of the Chinese Zodiac year sign as the outer layer of a much richer system.
LiChun (立春, Start of Spring) falls around February 3-5 each year. In traditional Chinese metaphysics, this solar event — not the Lunar New Year — marks the true transition between zodiac years. If you were born in January or early February, this distinction can change your animal sign entirely. Our calculator uses LiChun, which is the method used by professional BaZi practitioners.
Each zodiac year also carries one of five elements (Wu Xing 五行): Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. These cycle in two-year pairs — so you'll see "Wood Rat," "Fire Ox," etc. Your element adds another layer to your personality profile. Wood people tend toward creativity and growth; Fire people toward passion and leadership; Earth toward stability; Metal toward precision; Water toward wisdom and depth.
In the Chinese system, each year alternates between Yang (阳, active energy) and Yin (阴, receptive energy). Yang years tend to produce outward, assertive personalities; Yin years produce more inward, reflective ones. This is determined by your Heavenly Stem (天干), which cycles through 10 positions — odd-numbered stems are Yang, even-numbered are Yin.
Chinese astrology and the Five Elements system are cultural and philosophical frameworks, not scientific disciplines. They offer a lens through which traditional Chinese culture understood personality, timing, and life patterns — much like Western astrology, Myers-Briggs, or the Enneagram. Our calculator presents these traditions accurately; how you choose to apply them in your life is entirely up to you.