Chinese zodiac year lookup. Enter a year from 1901 to 2100 for its animal, the dates the zodiac year runs from Lunar New Year, and its 干支, element and NaYin.
Chinese Zodiac Year Lookup (生肖年查询)
How to use
Enter a year
Any Gregorian year from 1901 to 2100.
See when the zodiac year runs
The animal changes at Lunar New Year, so the result gives the date that year's New Year starts it and the eve of the next New Year that ends it. People born in January or early February are often still the previous year's animal.
Read the 干支, element and NaYin
The year's stem-branch pair repeats every 60 years; the element comes from the stem; NaYin is the traditional name shared by each pair of years.
Find the neighbouring years
Each animal returns every 12 years; the result shows the one before and the one after.
The zodiac follows the lunar year, not the calendar year
The twelve animals match the twelve earthly branches: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, repeating every 12 years. An animal belongs to a lunar year and changes at Lunar New Year, not on 1 January. Someone born between 1 January and 16 February 2026 is a Snake; from 17 February, the 2026 New Year, it is the Horse. In the Hong Kong Observatory's tables for 1901–2100 New Year falls as early as 21 January and as late as 20 February, so the stretch of "still last year's animal" changes from year to year.
The animal is half of the year's 干支
A year's full name pairs a heavenly stem with an earthly branch and repeats every 60 years; the animal is the branch alone. So 2014 and 2026 are both Horse years, but one is 甲午 and the other 丙午: different stems, different elements (Wood and Fire) and different traditional NaYin (沙中金 and 天河水).
How it is calculated
New Year dates are computed from astronomy at 120° east (UTC+8) and checked against the Hong Kong Observatory's Gregorian–lunar tables. NaYin is a traditional table; the tool's agrees with the one in an independent open-source program (lunar-javascript) on all 60 stem-branch pairs.
Born in January, you are still last year's animal
The animal changes at Lunar New Year, not 1 January: people born from 1 January to 16 February 2026 are Snakes, and the Horse starts on 17 February.
In the Hong Kong Observatory's tables for 1901–2100, New Year falls as early as 21 January (1966) and as late as 20 February (1920).
2014 and 2026 are both Horse years, but one is 甲午 and the other 丙午: Wood and Fire, with NaYin 沙中金 and 天河水.
The same stem-branch pair returns only every 60 years: 2026 is 丙午, as were 1966 and as will be 2086.
2024 was a Dragon year. China's National Bureau of Statistics counted 9.54 million births in 2024 against 9.02 million in 2023, about 5.8% more.
NaYin names come in pairs, so the 60 stem-branch years share 30 of them: 甲子 and 乙丑 are both 海中金.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Not necessarily. The animal changes at Lunar New Year: in 2026 that is 17 February, so anyone born from 1 January to 16 February 2026 is a Snake. Enter the year and the result gives the dates the zodiac year runs.
-
That is the rule for the year pillar in Four Pillars (bazi), which turns at Lichun. This tool uses Lunar New Year. Lichun falls around 3–5 February, so the two only disagree for the days between New Year and Lichun.
-
No. The zodiac follows the lunar year of birth in a 12-year cycle; star signs follow the day and month. One cannot be converted into the other.
-
1901 to 2100, the span over which New Year dates are checked against the Hong Kong Observatory. The 2100 zodiac year ends beyond that range, so only its start date is shown.
-
No. Everything is calculated in your browser.
-
There is no scientific evidence that it does. It is a cultural label for the year, best enjoyed as such.
Method & sources
How it computes
Animal = earthly branch of the lunar year's 干支 (LunisolarKernel, 1984 = 甲子); element from the heavenly stem; 纳音 from the traditional 30-name table, one name per pair of pillars. The zodiac year runs from LunisolarKernel.lunarNewYear(Y) to the day before lunarNewYear(Y+1), computed at UTC+8 and checked against HKO's tables 1901-2100.
What this tool implements
- Corrected: 2024 Dragon-year births in mainland China were 5.8% above 2023 (NBS: 9.54 against 9.02 million), not 12%; a '4000-year' heading against '2000 years' in the text; 'forward + reverse search' in the description (no reverse search exists). Removed as unsourced: Eastern Han and Lunheng dating, the Vietnamese cat and other regional variants, Hong Kong lottery numbers, 'energy cycles', 本命年 customs.
Sources
- Hong Kong Observatory. Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Tables, 1901-2100: Lunar New Year as early as 21 January (1966) and as late as 20 February (1920). https://www.hko.gov.hk/en/gts/time/conversion.htm
- National Bureau of Statistics of China. Statistical Communiqué on the 2024 National Economic and Social Development (28 February 2025): 9.54 million births in 2024. https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202502/t20250228_1958817.html
- National Bureau of Statistics of China. Statistical Communiqué on the 2023 National Economic and Social Development (29 February 2024): 9.02 million births in 2023. https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202402/t20240228_1947915.html
Pick up where you left off
Stored only in this browser — never sent to our servers.