生肖 · 四柱
Chinese astrology
Chinese astrology reads time through a cycle of twelve animals, five elements and the pairing of yin and yang. Here is how it works, with a free calculator and a page for every animal.
Quick answer
Chinese astrology is built on the Chinese calendar. Its best-known part is the zodiac (生肖, shēngxiào): twelve animals, one for each year, from the Rat to the Pig. Each year also carries one of five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal or water) and is yin or yang, which gives a 60-year cycle. BaZi (八字), or Four Pillars, goes further: it reads the year, month, day and hour of birth as four stem-and-branch pairs.
Find your animal
Enter a birth date: the calculator finds your animal by the exact Lunar New Year date, with its element, yin or yang, your year pillar and your classic matches. No account needed, and nothing is saved.
What is Chinese astrology?
The twelve animals (生肖) are its most familiar part. Each is one of the twelve earthly branches (地支), an ancient way of counting years, months, days and two-hour periods. A popular legend, the Great Race, explains their order: the animals raced across a river to the Jade Emperor and arrived as Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
The ten heavenly stems (天干) add the five elements, each in a yang and a yin form. A stem and a branch together name every year of the sixty-year cycle: 2027 is 丁未, dīng wèi, yin fire over the Goat. BaZi (八字, “eight characters”), also called the Four Pillars (四柱), writes a birth as four such pairs (year, month, day and hour) and reads how their elements balance.
The twelve animals
Each card shows the animal’s most recent year and the next. Open one for its traits, every year since 1900 with exact dates, and its matches.
The five elements (五行)
Wood, fire, earth, metal and water are phases rather than substances. Each feeds the next (wood feeds fire, fire makes earth, earth bears metal, metal carries water, water nourishes wood) and each restrains another. A year’s element comes from its stem, by the last digit of the year.
Wood
Growth, reach and kindness. Years ending in 4 or 5.
Fire
Warmth, expression and light. Years ending in 6 or 7.
Earth
Stability, care and trust. Years ending in 8 or 9.
Metal
Clarity, structure and resolve. Years ending in 0 or 1.
Water
Wisdom, flow and depth. Years ending in 2 or 3.
When does the Chinese year start?
Two dates mark the turn of the year, and both are traditional. Lunar New Year (春節, the Spring Festival) is the first day of the first lunar month, on a new moon between January 21 and February 20. Zodiac tables, and most people, change the animal on that day.
Lichun (立春, “start of spring”) is the moment the Sun reaches 315° on the ecliptic, around February 4. It opens the solar year of the 24 solar terms, and BaZi starts the year pillar there.
For most birthdays the two agree. Between the two dates they don’t: someone born on February 19, 1985 is a Rat by Lunar New Year (February 20 that year) but has the 乙丑 (Wood Ox) year pillar by Lichun (February 4). Aurae shows both, with a note.
Chinese astrology in Aurae
Today Aurae is a Western astrology app with a Vedic mode. A full Chinese mode, with your Four Pillars (BaZi), is coming, built on the calendar engine behind these pages. Here is what exists now and what does not yet.
Available now, free
- The Chinese zodiac calculator: animal, element, yin or yang, year pillar and matches
- A page for each of the twelve animals, with every year since 1900 and its exact dates
- The guide to the 2027 Fire Goat year
Coming
- A full Chinese mode in the Aurae app
- Your Four Pillars (BaZi) from your birth date, time and place
Keep your birth details
Create a free account to save your birth details. A full Chinese mode with your Four Pillars is coming to Aurae. Today a free account saves your birth details and gives you your Western chart wheel, your Big Three and the general daily horoscope.
Create a free accountHow Aurae calculates
Lunar New Year dates from the Hong Kong Observatory’s calendar tables (1901–2100; 1900 by the same astronomical rule) · Lichun when the Sun’s apparent longitude reaches 315° · the animal by Lunar New Year on your local birth date, the year pillar by Lichun · relations from the classical tables (六合, 三合, 六沖, 六害).
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the Chinese zodiac and BaZi?
The zodiac uses one thing: the animal of your birth year. BaZi (Four Pillars) uses eight characters, the stem and branch of your year, month, day and hour of birth. The year pillar is where the two overlap, and even there BaZi changes the year at Lichun rather than at Lunar New Year.
Why do some websites give me a different animal?
Usually because they change the animal on January 1 or at Lichun instead of at Lunar New Year, or use rounded dates. For a birthday between January 1 and February 20, check the exact Lunar New Year date of that year; the calculator does it for you.
What is my element?
The element of your birth year comes from its heavenly stem: wood for years ending in 4 or 5, fire for 6 or 7, earth for 8 or 9, metal for 0 or 1 and water for 2 or 3, counted from Lunar New Year. Each animal also has a fixed element from its own branch: the Rat, for example, is a water animal in any year.
Is it the Year of the Goat, the Sheep or the Ram?
All three. The Chinese 羊 (yáng) covers sheep and goats alike, so English sources use each of them. In Japanese the animal is hitsuji (ひつじ), the sheep. Aurae says Goat.
Is it the same across Asia?
The twelve branches are shared, with local differences. Vietnam has the Cat instead of the Rabbit and the water buffalo for the Ox; Japan has the wild boar for the Pig and counts the eto year from January 1; Korea celebrates the same Lunar New Year as Seollal.
Does my animal decide my personality or my luck?
No. The animal portraits are a traditional language for temperament, worth reading for reflection and for fun. They describe tendencies people have noticed for centuries, not a fixed path; your choices and circumstances count for far more.