Chinese astrology calculator:zodiac and element
Enter your date of birth to see your Chinese zodiac animal, the element of your birth year and the four pillars of your chart. Add the time if you know it. The year changes at Lichun, the Start of Spring, not at Chinese New Year, so a January or February birthday gets the right animal.
Free, no account needed. It runs on this page, and nothing you enter is sent.
Enter your date of birth
Only the date is needed. The time adds the hour pillar and the five-element shares.
Why your animal may not match the calendar year
Most zodiac tables change the animal at Chinese New Year, the first day of the lunar calendar. The four pillars of BaZi count the year from Lichun (立春), the Start of Spring, one of the 24 solar terms. Lichun always falls on 3, 4 or 5 February. Chinese New Year moves between 21 January and 20 February, so the two dates rarely meet.
In 2025, Chinese New Year was on 29 January and Lichun on 3 February at 22:10 China Standard Time. A child born on 30 January 2025 is a Snake by the lunar calendar but still a Dragon by Lichun. In 2026 the order was reversed: Lichun came first, on 4 February at 04:02, and Chinese New Year on 17 February. A child born on 10 February 2026 is already a Horse by Lichun and still a Snake by the lunar calendar.
This calculator gives the Lichun animal, because that is the year pillar of your chart. When your birthday falls between the two dates, it shows the Chinese New Year animal beside it, so you can see why the two disagree. The moment of Lichun is compared in China Standard Time (UTC+8), so for a birth outside China the time and the time zone matter on that day.
Chinese zodiac years
Each year runs from Lichun to Lichun. A birthday before Lichun, on 3 to 5 February, belongs to the year before.
| Animal | Years |
|---|---|
| Rat 子 | 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 |
| Ox 丑 | 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 |
| Tiger 寅 | 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 |
| Rabbit 卯 | 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023 |
| Dragon 辰 | 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024 |
| Snake 巳 | 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 |
| Horse 午 | 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026 |
| Goat 未 | 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 |
| Monkey 申 | 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016 |
| Rooster 酉 | 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017 |
| Dog 戌 | 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 |
| Pig 亥 | 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019 |
Two names vary in English. The eighth animal, 未, is called the Goat, the Sheep or the Ram, and the tenth, 酉, the Rooster or the Chicken; each is one sign under different names. Years before 1943 and after 2026 continue the same round of twelve, so adding or taking away 12 from any year in the table gives another year of the same animal.
Which element is your birth year?
The element comes from the stem of the year, and the last digit of the year names it. Even years are yang, odd years are yin.
| Year ends in | Stem | Element |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 甲 | Yang Wood |
| 5 | 乙 | Yin Wood |
| 6 | 丙 | Yang Fire |
| 7 | 丁 | Yin Fire |
| 8 | 戊 | Yang Earth |
| 9 | 己 | Yin Earth |
| 0 | 庚 | Yang Metal |
| 1 | 辛 | Yin Metal |
| 2 | 壬 | Yang Water |
| 3 | 癸 | Yin Water |
So 1984 is Yang Wood, 1990 is Yang Metal and 2026 is Yang Fire. Put the element with the animal and you have the full year sign: 2024 is the Yang Wood Dragon, 2026 the Yang Fire Horse. As with the animal, a birthday before Lichun takes the year before.
From your zodiac sign to the four pillars
Your zodiac sign is one pillar of four. A BaZi chart, also called the Four Pillars of Destiny, writes the moment of birth as four pairs of characters: one each for the year, the month, the day and the two-hour period. Each pair is a heavenly stem, which carries an element and a polarity, over an earthly branch, which carries an animal. That makes eight characters, which is what the Chinese name means.
The month pillar changes at the solar terms that open each month, not on the 1st, so it depends on the exact date too. The day pillar follows an unbroken cycle of 60 days. The hour pillar needs the clock time, which is why the calculator asks for it and leaves that pillar empty without it.
Each pillar has an animal of its own, which is why the result names four. The month animal follows the solar months: the Tiger month opens at Lichun, the Rabbit month at Jingzhe, the Awakening of Insects, in early March, and so on round the year. The hour animal names the two-hour period of birth: the Rat from 23:00 to 00:59, the Ox from 01:00 to 02:59, and on to the Pig from 21:00 to 22:59.
The day master is the stem of the day pillar. A reading treats it as you, and reads the other seven characters by how they meet it. The five-element shares count each stem once and each branch through the stems hidden in it, so a chart can lean towards one element even when the year sign is another.
Chinese astrology and Western astrology
If you came here looking for your star sign, that is Western astrology. Its twelve signs follow the Sun through the year, about a month each, so Aries begins near 21 March whatever the year. The twelve Chinese animals follow the years instead: everyone born in the same Chinese year shares an animal.
Both traditions take their calendar from the Sun. The 24 solar terms mark every 15 degrees of the Sun's path, and Lichun is the point at 315 degrees, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. A Western birth chart then places the Moon and the planets in signs and houses. The Chinese four pillars use no planets at all: a BaZi reading looks at the stems and branches of the year, month, day and hour, and at the balance of the five elements among them.
So a Western sign and a Chinese animal answer different questions, and one does not convert into the other. This page gives the Chinese side.
Common questions
- What is my Chinese zodiac sign and element?
- The animal and the element of your year pillar. Enter your date of birth above and the calculator names both, for example Yang Wood Dragon (甲辰) for a birth between Lichun 2024 and Lichun 2025. The animal comes from the earthly branch of the year, and the element with its yin or yang from the heavenly stem.
- Does the calculator use my birth time?
- Yes, when you give one. It adds the hour pillar and the five-element shares. It also settles the year and the month on the day a solar term begins, because Lichun and the other terms start at a set minute. The year and month are compared with the solar terms in China Standard Time (UTC+8); the day and hour follow the clock where you were born. Without a time you get the year, month and day pillars and the day master, read at noon.
- Is Chinese astrology the same as BaZi?
- BaZi is one part of it. Chinese astrology is a broad name. The zodiac animal of your year is the part most people know, and BaZi, the Four Pillars of Destiny, is the full chart of year, month, day and hour that the animal belongs to. Zi Wei Dou Shu is another Chinese system, built on twelve palaces. This calculator starts from the animal and shows the four pillars under it.
- I was born in January or February, which animal am I?
- It depends on whether you were born before Lichun, on 3, 4 or 5 February. Before it, you belong to the year before; from that moment on, to the new year. Lunar calendars and many zodiac tables change at Chinese New Year instead, which falls between 21 January and 20 February. When the two give different animals, the calculator shows both and says which one your chart uses.
- Is this free?
- Yes. The calculator is free and needs no account. It runs on this page, and your birth details are not saved or sent. A first reading is free without an account. Signed in, you get one free question every 24 hours, on one system, shared by new questions and follow-ups. A complete reading costs 40 credits.
- What does the AI read when I ask a question?
- A written reading: your question as the title, the chart it was read from, and one thing to do next. It can read the stems and branches, the hidden stems, the day master and the balance of the five elements, and it says where it read from. A free reading takes up the one or two of these that bear on your question.