Chinese zodiac calculator
Your zodiac animal is the earthly branch of your year pillar — one of the eight characters in a saju (BaZi) chart. Enter your birth date to find it, calculated the way saju does.
What is my Chinese zodiac animal?
Your Chinese zodiac animal is set by your birth year: twelve animals — Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig — repeat in a twelve-year cycle. In saju and BaZi, the animal is the earthly branch of your year pillar.
When does the Chinese zodiac year change?
There are two common conventions. Many calendars and celebrations change the animal at Lunar New Year, which moves between late January and mid-February; saju and BaZi change it at Ipchun (立春), the start of spring in the solar calendar, around February 4.
Why does saju count the year from Ipchun?
Saju builds all four pillars from the solar terms, the 24 points of the sun’s yearly path, and Ipchun is the first of them. Counting the year from Ipchun keeps the year pillar in step with the month pillars, which also change at solar terms.
Who gets a different animal under the two conventions?
Only people born between Ipchun and Lunar New Year — a gap of a few days to about two weeks in late January or early February, depending on the year. Anyone born in that window has one animal by the Lunar New Year convention and the neighbouring one in saju, and the calculator shows both when they differ.
What if I was born on the day of Ipchun?
Ipchun arrives at a particular moment of the day, so on that date the animal depends on your birth time and birthplace. Add both to the calculator and it works out which side of the change you were born on.
What do the zodiac animals mean in saju?
Each animal is an earthly branch, and each branch carries one of the five elements — the Rat and Pig are water, the Tiger and Rabbit wood, the Snake and Horse fire, the Monkey and Rooster metal, and the Ox, Dragon, Goat and Dog earth. Each branch also names a month and a two-hour period of the day, so the same animals appear across the whole chart, not only in the year.
Does my zodiac animal describe my personality?
In saju, the year animal is only one of eight characters, so it tends to say more about your background and the generation you were born into than about you. The character read as you is the Day Master — the heavenly stem of your day pillar.
Which zodiac animals get along?
Traditionally, animals four years apart form trines — Rat, Dragon and Monkey; Ox, Snake and Rooster; Tiger, Horse and Dog; Rabbit, Goat and Pig — and animals six years apart form clashes, such as Rat and Horse. These are pairings between single characters, so real compatibility depends on both whole charts.
How do I see my full saju chart?
Your zodiac animal is one character of eight. Enter your birth date, time and birthplace on the PAL:JA home page to calculate all eight, with your Day Master and five-element balance, for free.
Find your zodiac animal
FAQ
Is the Chinese zodiac the same as the Korean zodiac?
The twelve animals are shared across East Asia. In Korea they are called tti (띠), and in saju they are counted from Ipchun, as in Chinese BaZi.
What is the Chinese zodiac animal for 2027?
2027 is a year of the Goat — 丁未, a Fire Goat year — beginning at Ipchun, around February 4, 2027.
Does the calculator need my birth time?
Only if you were born on the day of Ipchun. On every other day the animal is the same from midnight to midnight, so the date alone is enough.