The Chinese zodiac: twelve animals and five elements

The year's animal

Each year has one of twelve animals, such as the rat, ox, tiger and dragon, and they repeat every twelve years. The animal of your birth year colours your traits.

Five elements and the sixty-year cycle

Each animal pairs with one of five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Twelve animals and five elements make sixty combinations, so an «Earth Tiger» returns once every sixty years.

How to read it

Enter your birth date to see the animal and element of the year and its place in the sixty-year cycle. Read it as a cultural mirror, not a verdict about the future.