Entdecke dein Tier und Element nach deinem Geburtsdatum
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The Chinese horoscope rests on an astrological system distinct from the Western tradition, organized around twelve animals and five elements. Each lunar year is paired with one of the twelve signs (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig) combined with one of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). This combination forms a complete cycle of sixty years called jiazi. Our tool determines your Chinese sign and element from your date of birth and the corresponding lunar year.
The Chinese horoscope, or shengxiao (生肖), is integral to traditional Chinese cosmology. It pairs each year of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with one of the twelve zodiac animals, crossed with one of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) drawn from the wuxing theory codified under the Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE). These two series combined form the sexagenary cycle of the jiazi, attested as early as the Shang dynasty (around 1600-1046 BCE). The yin/yang polarity also adds itself, alternating year by year and shading the astrological portrait further.
To determine your Chinese sign and element, enter your full date of birth. The Chinese calendar being lunisolar, the new year does not begin on January 1 but on the second new moon after the winter solstice, between January 21 and February 20 depending on the year. If you were born in early Gregorian year, your sign may therefore match the previous lunar year. The time of birth also lets us compute your hour sign, which adds an important nuance in traditional Chinese astrology.
Start by identifying your annual animal, then your element: Wood Rat, Fire Horse, or Metal Dragon give very different combinations. In deeper Chinese astrology, you also take into account the four pillars of destiny (Ba Zi): animal and element of the year, month, day, and hour of birth. Avoid simplistic compatibility tables that consider only the annual animal: a full Ba Zi reading greatly nuances generalizations.
Because the Chinese lunar year begins on a different date each year, between January 21 and February 20. People born in January or early February must therefore check the exact date of the Lunar New Year of their birth year. Our tool uses the official astronomical dates of the Chinese calendar.
The wuxing distinguishes five elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Each comes in yin and yang variants and maintains generative (Wood feeds Fire) or controlling (Metal cuts Wood) relations with the others. These relations structure traditional Chinese astrological, medical, and geomantic reading.
The two systems are independent: they rest on distinct cosmologies, cycles, and symbolism. Nothing prevents you from consulting them in parallel. Many contemporary astrologers, for example, pair the Chinese Dragon with the Western Leo, or the Dog with Cancer, but these equivalences remain analogies, not strict correspondences.
Ba Zi (八字), literally "eight characters", is the complete analysis of a Chinese astrological chart based on the four pillars of destiny: year, month, day, and hour of birth, each expressed by an animal and an element. This system, codified under the Tang dynasty (618-907), is the functional equivalent of the Western natal chart.