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Explore the complete almanac: practical tools, twelve animal guides, five element guides, the Gan-Zhi cycle, the 24 solar terms, sixty element–animal profiles, and reference guides.
Culture, timing and learning
- Chinese zodiac lucky symbols— Popular animal charts associate signs with numbers, colours and flowers. Choose an animal to compare published associations and its fixed Earthly Branch bearing.
- Chinese and Western zodiac calculator— Enter your birth date to find its Chinese animal and year element alongside the tropical Western Sun sign. A birth time can resolve a date when the Sun changes signs.
- Chinese zodiac element calculator— Enter your birth date to find the Heavenly Stem element of your zodiac year, its Yin or Yang polarity, and your animal’s separate fixed element.
- Chinese zodiac culture and meaning— The twelve animal signs name calendar years and Earthly Branches. Their stories, names and customs also appear in art, language and family celebrations.
- Chinese zodiac hours— Each animal names a two-hour period. Rat covers 23:00–01:00, Ox 01:00–03:00 and the sequence continues through Pig at 21:00–23:00.
- Chinese zodiac day calculator— An animal day repeats every twelve days; its full stem–branch name repeats every sixty. Choose a civil date to see both coordinates.
- Chinese zodiac months— The Tiger solar month starts at Li Chun, Rabbit at Jing Zhe and Dragon at Qing Ming. Each solar animal month opens at a Jie solar-term instant.
- Chinese horoscope by animal and date— Choose your animal and period to read the available dated edition. Compare its practical focus with the actual animal days, solar months and zodiac year.
- 2026 Chinese horoscope · Fire Horse year— Choose your animal for its 2026 reading, annual branch relationships and dated monthly outlook.
- 2027 Chinese horoscope · Fire Goat year— Choose your animal for its 2027 reading, annual branch relationships and dated monthly outlook.
- Chinese zodiac for kids— Start with Rat, follow eleven more animals and return to Rat. Learn the order, say the Chinese names and build a wheel showing how the cycle repeats.
- Chinese zodiac chart printable— Choose the first year of your chart. Print twelve consecutive zodiac years with animal names, elements and exact opening dates, plus the animal order.
- Chinese zodiac colouring pages— Choose an animal below or print the full twelve-animal set. Each original outline drawing has its English name, Chinese character and place in the cycle.
- Make a Chinese zodiac cycle wheel— Make a twelve-position animal wheel, then turn a year pointer one place at a time. After twelve turns, the pointer comes back to the same animal.
- History of the Chinese zodiac— The stem–branch calendar and its twelve-animal symbolism have related histories. The standard animal order was established by the Eastern Han period; the Great Race is a later story explaining that order.
- Is the zodiac animal a Goat, Sheep or Ram?— All three labels can represent 羊 (yáng), the eighth zodiac animal. Goat is this site’s main English label; Sheep and Ram point to the same calendar sign.
- Vietnamese zodiac and the Year of the Cat— The Vietnamese cycle uses Cat where the Chinese cycle uses Rabbit, and Water Buffalo where English Chinese-zodiac lists use Ox. The other ten animals share their positions.
- Japanese zodiac and eto— Eto names the stem–branch cycle in Japan and is often used for its twelve animal years. Japanese animal lists end in Boar, and modern New Year celebrations follow the Gregorian calendar.
- Korean zodiac and tti— Korean tti identifies a person’s animal birth year. The same twelve-animal order also appears in guardian figures associated with directions, calendar days and two-hour periods.
- Thai zodiac and the twelve-animal cycle— Thai zodiac traditions adapt the twelve-animal cycle to local culture. The Dragon position can be represented by a Buddhist nāga, and Phrommachāt manuscripts combine animal images with other divination symbols.
- Tibetan zodiac and elemental astrology— Tibetan elemental astrology combines twelve year signs with Wood, Fire, Earth, Iron and Water. Its almanacs belong to Tibetan calendar traditions, including Phuglug and Tsurlug.
- Central Asian twelve-year animal calendars— Twelve-year animal calendars also belong to Central Asian traditions. Kazakhstan’s heritage inventory identifies Kazakhtyn zhylnamasy, the Kazakh calendar of a twelve-year animal cycle.
- Chinese zodiac animals in art— A zodiac motif can identify one birth year or place an animal in a complete twelve-part cycle. Animal-headed tomb figures and small carved sets show the sequence in three-dimensional art.
- Chinese zodiac tattoo characters and motifs— First confirm your animal from your full birth date. Then choose the animal word or its separate Earthly Branch; they are different characters with different jobs.
- Choosing a Chinese zodiac animal gift— For a birthday gift, use the recipient’s birth-date animal. For a New Year gift, use the incoming year’s animal. Those two choices can point to different signs.
- Chinese zodiac and Western zodiac— The Chinese animal year changes at Chinese New Year and repeats every twelve years. A tropical Western Sun sign follows the Sun’s longitude through twelve thirty-degree signs over one year.
Tools
- Chinese animal names and printable chart
- Chinese zodiac quiz
- Chinese zodiac calculator — find your animal, element, and lunar-year dates from a birth date.
- Chinese zodiac years — look up any year's animal and Chinese New Year boundary.
- Five zodiac elements — understand year-stem, fixed animal, day-master and Na Yin element coordinates.
- Gan-Zhi cycle — read heavenly stems and earthly branches in a complete year name.
- Solar terms and branch seasons — understand every term shown on a year page and how twelve Jie open the animal months.
- My Chinese zodiac year — when your birth animal returns (ben ming nian) and the age you reach in each.
- Chinese zodiac compatibility — the traditional relationship between any two of the twelve animals.
Site information
- About — what the tools and guides cover.
- Contact — how to reach the maintainers and report a date error.
- Privacy — what happens to the dates you enter.
- Terms of use — the terms the reference is offered under.
Twelve animal guides
Reference guides
- Compatible Chinese Zodiac Signs— How the four trines and Six Harmonies (secret-friend) pairs group the Chinese zodiac animals and what each traditional pairing means.
- Incompatible Chinese Zodiac Signs— The six clashing Chinese zodiac pairs, how each opposition follows the cycle, and what the traditional pairing means.
- Chinese Zodiac Sign Characteristics— All twelve Chinese zodiac animals side by side, comparing the strengths and challenges traditionally associated with each, and the Yin-Yang pattern running through them.
- How the Chinese Zodiac Works— How the twelve earthly branches, ten heavenly stems and five elements combine into the sixty-year Chinese zodiac cycle, and why a year starts at Chinese New Year.
- Legends of the Chinese Zodiac— The Great Race story that explains the order of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals, the Cat variant, and why the legend follows the calendar rather than creating it.
- Why Your Zodiac Sign Changes at Chinese New Year— A Chinese zodiac year begins at Chinese New Year, not 1 January. See which year is running and why January or early-February births may belong to the previous animal.
- Tai Sui 2027— 2027 Goat-year relations and birth-date lookup.
Five element result guides
- Wood 木— stems, fixed animal branches, exact years, and all twelve Wood animal types.
- Fire 火— stems, fixed animal branches, exact years, and all twelve Fire animal types.
- Earth 土— stems, fixed animal branches, exact years, and all twelve Earth animal types.
- Metal 金— stems, fixed animal branches, exact years, and all twelve Metal animal types.
- Water 水— stems, fixed animal branches, exact years, and all twelve Water animal types.