Chinese zodiac: the 12 animals, their years and how China uses them

How the Chinese zodiac works

Each animal belongs to one of the twelve “earthly branches” (地支), an old Chinese counting system also used for the two-hour periods of the day: the Rat’s branch 子 covers 11 pm to 1 am, and the Horse’s 午 means noon. The branches combine with ten “heavenly stems”, which carry the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), so every animal-element pair comes round once in 60 years. 2026 is 丙午 (bǐngwǔ), the Fire Horse.

The year changes at Lunar New Year, not on 1 January. In the best-known folk tale, the order comes from a race called by the Jade Emperor: the Rat rode across the river on the Ox and jumped off first, and the Pig stopped to eat and came last. The cat missed out because the Rat did not wake it, which is said to be why cats chase rats.[3][4][5]

How Chinese people use the zodiac today

Your own animal’s year is a risky one. In your 本命年 (běnmìngnián), the year of your own animal at ages 12, 24, 36 and so on, tradition says you offend 太岁, the god of the year. The most common protection is red underwear, plus red belts and bracelets, and the red items are supposed to be bought for you by someone else.

Births. Parents prize Dragon babies. In 2024, a Dragon year, China’s births rose to 9.54 million from 9.02 million, the first increase in seven years, and a demographer credited the Dragon year as one of the reasons. Births fell to 7.92 million in 2025.

Marriage. Some couples, and their parents, still check zodiac matches. A Fudan University economist found couples with a traditionally “bad” zodiac combination are significantly rarer in Chinese census data than neutral pairs.

Stamps and the Gala. China Post has issued a zodiac stamp every year since the 1980 Monkey; the 2026 Horse stamps, the fourth round of the series, had a planned run of 26.68 million sets and first-day covers sold out in under an hour at a Beijing stamp shop. Each year’s CCTV Spring Festival Gala also picks mascots for the animal: four horses for 2026.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]

How old is the Chinese zodiac?

The oldest list of zodiac animals is on Qin-dynasty bamboo slips dug up in 1975 at Shuihudi in Hubei. It is close to today’s, but not the same: there is no dragon, and the horse sits where the goat is now. There it was used to describe a thief from the day of a theft.

In the Eastern Han, the philosopher Wang Chong’s Lunheng (论衡) gives the twelve animals we know today. Scholars disagree on exactly when the animals became tied to people’s birth years.[17][18]

Outside China

Korea, Japan and Vietnam use the same twelve-year cycle, with local twists. Vietnam has a cat instead of the rabbit and a water buffalo instead of the ox. In Japan the animal of the year decorates New Year cards and calendars.[19][20]