Chinese Zodiac Facts - Frequently Asked Questions

People born in January and February have the need to correlate their date of birth (based on the Gregorian calendar) with the Chinese lunar calendar to know their Chinese zodiac sign. On the other hand, those who were born between March and December can content themselves to know the Chinese year corresponding to their year of birth, because only the months of January and February are concerned by the changing dates of the Lunar New Year.

Use our free Chinese zodiac sign calculator (below) to discover your Chinese zodiac sign (and element of birth). You can also browse our complete yearly Chinese calendar (from 1920 to 2031) by clicking here:

📅 Chinese calendar (annual, monthly and hourly)

2. What is my Chinese zodiac element?

What is commonly referred to as the Chinese element of a person is the element of one's year of birth according to the Chinese calendar. Thus, a child born during the Year of the Earth Dog 2018 has the Dog as  Chinese zodiac sign and Earth as Chinese element.

Remember, however, that elements, as well as Chinese zodiac signs, in addition to being combined with years, are also related to seasons, months, days, and hours. It is by analyzing the complete energetic composition of a person's day of birth that one obtains one's Chinese horoscope or natal chart. In addition to the animal and the element of one’s year of birth, the month, day and time of birth also provide useful indications. Traditional Chinese astrology then, based on the natal chart, analyzes the energetic chart for a specific day, month or year, in order to identify the energy corrections to be considered during the writing process of a personalized Chinese horoscope.

Use our Chinese zodiac sign calculator to discover your birth element (and your Chinese zodiac sign).

🔥 Chinese calendar of the five elements

3. What is the Chinese zodiac for 2019, 2020, 2021?

• The Chinese zodiac animal of 2019 is the Pig
• The Chinese zodiac animal of 2020 is the Rat
• The Chinese zodiac animal of 2021 is the Ox (Buffalo)

4. Which Chinese zodiac signs are compatible?

Discover the four compatibility triangles of Chinese astrology, the secret friends and the opposite sign of each Chinese zodiac animal:

💑 Compatibility between Chinese zodiac signs

5. What animal am I in Chinese New Year?

Your Chinese zodiac animal is the zodiac animal corresponding to your year of birth according to the Chinese calendar. Every Chinese New Year, the energetic temperature of your year depends on the compatibility of your animal with that of the current year.

6. What is the best Chinese zodiac sign to have?

According to the Chinese horoscope, there is no good or bad Chinese zodiac sign. Be immediately reassured on this point, especially as the Asian philosophy associated with Chinese astrology is not to favor one at the expense of others. If we are born with a predetermined Chinese astral theme that can actually affect our character and our relationship to others, it is mainly about finding energetic solutions that can help us establish harmony and balance in our life and with those we love. Chinese astrology therefore gives us keys to influence our destiny through a better understanding of the universe through the energy flows that surround us and which are constantly flowing through us.

That being said, some Chinese zodiac signs are actually more predisposed to luck. It is not that the other zodiac signs of the lunar calendar have fewer opportunities to seize, but it is necessary to be very agile to spot this ephemeral and precious instant and to convert it into the field of reality.

7. Which Chinese zodiac sign is the luckiest?

Among the Chinese zodiac animals known to be the most fortunate, the Dragon, the Rat and the Monkey, all three members of the first triangle of compatibility, stand out clearly.

The Dragon, emblem of Chinese astrology, is extremely lucky. Despite his tendency to self-satisfaction and an unpredictable and potentially destructive temperament, his unwavering belief in his good star and his tendency to never doubt himself in all circumstances give him a clear propensity to experience lasting successes.

The Rat, the first sign of the Chinese calendar, has multiple talents that allow him to seize luck when it comes to him. Sly and clairvoyant, the Rat is a clever and charming opportunist, who will never miss an opportunity to get rich.

The Monkey is also a particularly lucky Chinese zodiac sign. Intelligent, funny and inventive, the Monkey is able to return any situation to his advantage, was it desperate!

8. Who is the most attractive Chinese zodiac sign?

Like a captivating scent, attraction is complex and indefinable. What attracts us to someone can, on the contrary, repel our neighbor. Each Chinese zodiac sign possesses specific qualities which, if they can't be universally recognized, can, however, assure him a certain success in his amorous conquests.

• The Rat for his flair for money and the security he can bring to his family, despite his tendency to avarice,
• The Ox for his reliable, solid and reassuring character, despite his sometimes annoying slowness,
• The Tiger for his luminous and funny character, in spite of taciturn episodic periods,
• The Rabbit for his insatiable curiosity and cultured conversation, despite his tendency to sometimes run away from reality,
• The Dragon for his magnetic and flamboyant charisma, despite his tendency to admire no one but himself,
• The Snake for his powerful, erotic and secret charm (in Chinese culture, to say of a woman that she is beautiful like a snake is a noticeable compliment), despite his tendency to obsessive jealousy,
• The Horse for his joie de vivre and his openness to the world, despite his propensity to keep everything to himself,
• The Goat for his taste, his artistic qualities and his dreamy side, despite the phases in which he lapses into laziness,
• The Monkey for his humor and his always fascinating conversation, despite his gladly dodgy side,
• The Rooster for his elegance and outspokenness, despite the fact that his remarks are often mistaken for attacks,
• The Dog for his altruistic and generous side, even if he can become vindictive if he feels his territorial integrity, threatened,
• The Pig for his conversation, his sensitivity and openness to the arts, despite his credulity and his taste for the superfluous.

9. Who is the most powerful Chinese zodiac sign?

1. The Dragon is the strongest animal in the Chinese zodiac. The fifth Chinese zodiac sign of the lunar calendar, the Dragon has the natural assurance of one who is fully aware of his strength and still believes in his destiny,
2. The Ox (Buffalo) is the second most powerful zodiac animal. According to the Chinese horoscope, it is said of the Ox that he can face two Tigers successfully,
3. The Goat (Sheep) is the third Chinese zodiac animal on our list, for his resilience and athletic abilities. More discreet and smaller than the Dragon and the Ox, he is nonetheless extremely robust and agile. What other animal can make jumps several meters from the steep side of a mountain to another?
4. The Tiger is also strong, but his tendency to acrobatics and risky stunts don't work in his favor. That's why KarmaWeather only gives him fourth place on this list.

10. Who is the most intelligent Chinese zodiac sign?

1. The Monkey is probably the most intelligent of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. If he has the will, he can accomplish everything successfully,
2. The Snake is the most strategic of all. His attraction to the mystery allows him to have an iconoclastic and extra-lucid vision of the world,
3. The Rat has the intelligence of money,
4. The Rabbit is a patient diplomat who doesn't hesitate to take measured risks,
5. The Goat (Sheep) has an artistic intelligence but also a political one.

11. Who is the unluckiest Chinese zodiac sign?

In China, the Goat is (wrongly according to us) considered the most unlucky of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. Indeed, if we only want to consider luck under the prism of money, it is actually riskier to bet on a Goat, a Chinese zodiac sign with the soul of an artist and a dreamer par excellence, than on a Rat, a Chinese zodiac sign whose Metal is the stable element, but who unlike the Rooster (also a zodiac sign whose intrinsic element is Metal) tends to hoard rather than spend.

12. What is the best Chinese zodiac year to have a baby?

In China, there are fewer births during the years of the Goat, because the fact that the Goat is gifted for art and poetry is not enough to reassure parents who wish to avoid in the long term, for themselves and their child, any financial uncertainty. Yet who would dream of a world composed solely of bankers and traders? Similarly, when the birth of a Goat child is planned anyway, many parents in China hope that their baby will be a boy rather than a girl, which is of course sadly sexist and unjustified. Let's hope that in the coming years, all Goats, men and women, will finally find the place they deserve in society!

According to the Chinese horoscope, all other years except the years of the Goat are considered conducive to the birth of a child, with one exception: once every 60 years, parents in Asia avoid to have a boy or a girl during the Year of the Fire Horse. The next Chinese New Year of the Fire Horse is scheduled for 2026 (from 17/02/2026 to 05/02/2027).