2020 is a year of the Rat, starting from January 25th 2020 and ending on February 11th 2021. It is an Gold Rat year. 2021 will be a year of the Ox.

The Chinese zodiac, or shengxiao (/shnng-sshyao/ ‘born resembling'), is a repeating cycle of 12 years, with each year being represented by an animal and its reputed attributes. In order, the 12 Chinese horoscope animals are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. 2020 is a year of the Rat. 12 Zodiac Signs Find Your Chinese Zodiac Sign Choose your date of birth and find out about your Chinese zodiac sign. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 You are a: Lucky numbers:

Lucky colors: Work:

Wealth:

Love:

Health:

Chinese zodiac animals have lucky meanings. Chinese people associate each animal with certain characteristics. It's believed that people born in a given year have the personality of that year's animal. Click the animal signs below to learn more about each zodiac animal.

What's Your Zodiac Animal?

Each zodiac animal's year comes around every 12 years, and each year is associated with a zodiac animal. The most recent zodiac sign years are shown below.

Each Chinese zodiac animal has personality traits assigned to it by the ancient Chinese. Chinese people believe these traits will be embodied in people, according to their zodiac sign.

Zodiac Animal Recent Years Personality Traits Rat 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 Quick-witted, resourceful, versatile, kind Ox 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 Diligent, dependable, strong, determined Tiger 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 Brave, confident, competitive Rabbit 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023 Quiet, elegant, kind, responsible Dragon 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024 Confident, intelligent, enthusiastic Snake 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 Enigmatic, intelligent, wise Horse 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026 Animated, active, energetic Goat 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027 Calm, gentle, sympathetic Monkey 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028 Sharp, smart, curiosity Rooster 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029 Observant, hardworking, courageous Dog 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030 Lovely, honest, prudent Pig 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019 , 2031 Compassionate, generous, diligent

Chinese Zodiac Love Compatibility — Is he/she right for you?

People born in a certain animal year are believed to have attributes of that animal, which could either help or hinder a relationship.

An important use of the Chinese zodiac is to determine if two people are compatible, in a romantic relationship or any kind of relationship.

In ancient times people were faithful to Chinese zodiac compatibility and often referred to it before a romantic relationship began. Even nowadays some people still refer to it.

Enter Your Name, Date of Birth and Test Now Boy's Name: Date of Birth: Girl's Name: Date of Birth:

Best Matches for 12 Signs:

Rat : Ox, Dragon, Rabbit

: Ox, Dragon, Rabbit Ox: Rat, Monkey, or Rooster

Tiger: Dragon, Horse, or Pig

Rabbit: Rat, Goat, Monkey, Dog, Pig

Dragon: Rat, Tiger or Snake

Snake: Dragon, Rooster

Horse: Goat, Tiger

Goat: Rabbit, Horse, Pig

Monkey: Ox, Rabbit

Rooster: Ox, Snake

Dog: Rabbit

Pig: Goat, Tiger, Rabbit

Chinese Zodiac Origins — Why 12 Animals

The 12 animals were chosen deliberately, after many revisions. The zodiac animals are either closely related to ancient Chinese people's daily lives, or have lucky meanings.

Chinese zodiac uses the principles of yin and yang. Since the zodiac animal cycle of 12 is divisible by two, every zodiac sign can occur only as either Yin or Yang.

Get to know Chinese Zodiac story.

Ben Ming Nian (Zodiac Year of Birth)

As the Chinese zodiac recurs every 12 years, your animal year will come around when you are 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, etc. According to ancient Chinese superstition, in your birth sign year, you will offend the God of Age, and will have bad luck during that year. Read more on How to be Lucky in Your Zodiac Year.

Chinese Zodiac Hours — Every hour has an animal.

It is widely known that each year is associated with a Chinese zodiac animal, but the animal signs are also assigned to months, days of the week, and hours.

According to professional Chinese astrology, a person's personality and life is more decided by his/her birth hour than year. Zodiac hours, days, months, and years are used together for in-depth character and destiny analysis. In popular astrology, by contrast, only the birth year is used.

In ancient times, in order to tell the time, people divided a day into twelve 2-hour periods, and designated an animal to represent each period, according to each animal's “special time, according to an ancient mnemonic and common observations.

Zodiac animal Hours Mnemonic Observation Rat 11pm-1am Rats forage most actively. The ancients heard them at this hour. Ox 1-3am Oxen chew the cud most comfortably. People of old would get up and feed them at this time. Tiger 3-5am Tigers hunt most ferociously. Chinese people long ago often hear them roaring at this time. Rabbit 5-7am Rabbits pound the ground most fervently. Rabbits were seen to come out of their holes to eat grass with dew at dawn. Dragon 7-9am Dragons hover most thickly. Morning mists, particularly coils around hills, made people think of dragons. Snake 9-11am Snakes emerge most readily. Snakes come out to sun themselves as the morning sun warms the ground. Horse 11am-1pm Horses stand most impressively. When the sun is strongest, only horses were seen standing, while most other animals would lie down to rest. Goat 1-3pm Goats eat and urinate most frequently. This was reputedly the best time to herd goats, when the sun had dried the dew on the undergrowth. Monkey 3-5pm Monkeys play most vigorously. Monkeys were seen and heard playing and calling in the trees at this time. Rooster 5-7pm Roosters return to their coops most routinely. Roosters are routinely led back to their henhouses before sunset. Dog 7-9pm Dogs guard most dutifully. People would take their dogs out to keep a watch at night before sleep. Pig 9-11pm Pigs snuffle most sweetly. As they settled down to sleep, people heard pigs snouting their troughs.

Chinese Zodiac Years are based on Chinese lunar calendar

There are two dates a Chinese zodiac year could be said to start on:

Chinese New Year (day 1 of the lunar year), which is somewhere in the period January 21 to February 20

Start of Spring (day 1 of the solar year), the first day of the first solar term in the traditional Chinese solar calendar, which falls in the period February 3–5.

Most Chinese people use lunar new year as the start of the zodiac year. But for professional fortune telling, Chinese astrologers use 'Start of Spring' or solar new year as the beginning of the zodiac year.

Chinese Zodiac is Used to Predict People's Fortune

To make a relatively correct Chinese fortune prediction, people take many methods into consideration, such as face characteristics, palmistry, and more involved Chinese astrology including birth month, day, and hour, gender, etc.

Zodiac fortune prediction by birth year is only one of these methods. So you may only take Chinese zodiac birth sign horoscopes as a general reference.

See more on Fortune Telling in China — Methods, Benefits, and Tips.

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