The Chinese zodiac is a classification scheme used to represent the year and people's year of birth. The zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture and tradition which is based on the lunar calendar.
Each year is assigned an animal in a repeating 12-year cycle and everyone has an animal as the zodiac in the year of birth. The 12 Chinese zodiac signs are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
The Chinese zodiac is popular among Asian nations where people use them as the traditional method calculating a person's age. Basically, some smart guys can calculate your age based on certain rules when they know your zodiac.
In old days, people also use the zodiac as one factor predicting marriages. For example, a person with the zodiac of rooster is not great to marry a person with the zodiac of dog.
【Rat】
1912 1924 1936 1948
1960 1972 1984 1996
2008 2020 2032 2044
【Ox】
1913 1925 1937 1949
1961 1973 1985 1997
2009 2021 2033 2045
【Tiger】
1914 1926 1938 1950
1962 1974 1986 1998
2010 2022 2034 2046
【Rabbit】
1915 1927 1939 1951
1963 1975 1987 1999
2011 2023 2035 2047
【Dragon】
1916 1928 1940 1952
1964 1976 1988 2000
2012 2024 2036 2048
【Snake】
1917 1929 1941 1953
1965 1977 1989 2001
2013 2025 2037 2049
【Horse】
1918 1930 1942 1954
1966 1978 1990 2002
2014 2026 2038 2050
【Goat】
1919 1931 1943 1955
1967 1979 1991 2003
2015 2027 2039 2051
【Monkey】
1920 1932 1944 1956
1968 1980 1992 2004
2016 2028 2040 2052
【Rooster】
1921 1933 1945 1957
1969 1981 1993 2005
2017 2029 2041 2053
【Dog】
1922 1934 1946 1958
1970 1982 1994 2006
2018 2030 2042 2054
【Pig】
1923 1935 1947 1959
1971 1983 1995 2007
2019 2031 2043 2055