Chinese zodiac, in full
The twelve animals are a popular naming for the twelve earthly branches, a counting series Chinese calendars used long before the animals attached to it. Branches order years, months, days and the two-hour divisions of the day. The animal version is the one most people meet, and its sequence is inherited rather than chosen, though the folk story of a river race organised by the Jade Emperor explains it as a finishing order.
Branches pair with a second series, the ten heavenly stems, which are the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water in a yang and a yin form each. Stems and branches advance together, one step apiece per year. Ten and twelve have a least common multiple of 60, and because polarity keeps yang stems with yang branches, only 60 of the 120 arithmetically possible combinations ever occur. That run of 60 is the sexagenary cycle.
A Chinese zodiac year does not begin on 1 January. In common reckoning it begins at lunar new year, which falls somewhere between 21 January and 20 February. Anyone born in January or the first part of February belongs to the previous animal unless their birthday lands on or after that year's lunar new year date. Some practitioners use a different boundary again, the solar term lichun, around 4 February.
- Astrology
- Sheng xiao, Chinese animal signs
A worked example
2024 was the year of the wood dragon: the stem jia, which is yang wood, with the branch chen, the dragon. It began on 10 February 2024. That same stem-branch combination last came round in 1964 and returns in 2084, 60 years apart in each direction. 2025 moved on to the snake under the stem yi, yin wood, starting 29 January 2025.
Sources
The twelve animals run in the fixed order rat to pig, and the dragon year began on 10 February 2024 while the snake year began on 29 January 2025.
Wikipedia — Chinese zodiacTen stems and twelve branches would allow 120 pairings, but matching yin and yang properties leaves only the 60 of the sexagenary cycle.
Wikipedia — Sexagenary cycleThe first day of the Chinese New Year falls on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February.
Wikipedia — Chinese New YearLichun, the solar term some practitioners use as the year boundary instead, begins around 4 February.
Wikipedia — Lichun
See also
Where it comes up on this site
Chinese zodiac: frequently asked
Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig. Fixed, and it repeats every twelve years. The Jade Emperor race story explains an order that already existed.
The 60-year count you get by running the twelve earthly branches alongside the ten heavenly stems. Both advance one step a year, and because a yang stem only ever pairs with a yang branch, half the arithmetically possible pairings never occur. Sixty are left, and the same count orders months, days and hours as well as years.
Only by coincidence of number. Western signs cut one year into twelve solar segments. Chinese branches name twelve consecutive years on a lunisolar calendar.