Sources and Conventions

Chinese New Year boundaries and Li Chun civil dates are checked against the Hong Kong Observatory Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Table, covering 1901–2100.

Complete zodiac-year intervals run from 1901-02-19 through 2100-02-08.

A zodiac year runs from one Chinese New Year to the day before the next. A birth date is compared against that year's boundary: on or after it, the date belongs to that zodiac year; before it, to the previous one. This is why a January or early-February birth date often carries the previous animal.

The animal comes from the twelve-year branch cycle. The popular year element and polarity come from the ten-stem cycle; together they produce the sixty-year Gan-Zhi name such as Yang Wood Dragon. Each animal's branch also carries its own fixed element, which does not change between Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water years of that animal.

This site uses the lunar New Year boundary throughout. Some Four Pillars and BaZi traditions instead begin the year at the solar term Li Chun, around 4 February, which can place a birth date in a different animal year. That is a separate convention.

The day master is the heavenly stem of the birth date's day pillar. This date-only lookup uses the midnight civil-day boundary; it does not apply the Zi-hour convention that advances the pillar at 23:00.

The day master is independent of both the birth year's stem element and the animal branch's fixed element. The calculator labels all three so their roles remain distinct.

Year pages show the twenty-four solar terms at their calculated solar-longitude crossings in fixed China Standard Time (UTC+8). The twelve Jie terms open solar months; the twelve Qi terms fall between them. Li Chun is one of those Jie terms and is the solar year boundary used in the comparison view.

Na Yin is a named element association attached to each two-character stem-and-branch pair in the sixty-year cycle. It is kept separate from the year stem's element and the animal branch's fixed element.

Sign portraits expand the animal's commonly recorded strengths and challenges. The five variants combine that portrait with the symbolism of the year-stem element; lucky numbers, colours and flowers are labelled as popular tradition. A branch's compass bearing is a separate coordinate, not a lucky direction.

Famous-person entries use published full birth dates, with a source retained for each entry. Every date is checked through the same Chinese New Year calculation as the birth-date tool, including the animal and year element. An early-year birthday can therefore belong to the preceding zodiac year.

Branch compatibility checks the Three Harmonies, Six Harmonies, seasonal meetings, clashes, harms, destructions, and punishments independently. When supportive and challenging relations overlap, the result is marked mixed and every relation remains visible. The animals' fixed-element dynamic is displayed separately and does not create or cancel a named branch relation.