Chinese Zodiac Calculator

Chinese Zodiac Calculator

The Chinese Zodiac is calculated according to Chinese lunar calendar and it has a 12-year cycle. Not sure what your Chinese Zodiac sign is? The below zodiac calculator and zodiac years chart will help you find your Chinese zodiac animal. 



Now find your own zodiac sign according to your birth year/month/day below.
 

Calculating Methods of the Chinese Zodiac

The Chinese zodiac is a set of symbols used in the calendar year and it's a part of the ancient astronomical calendar, too. It has become a commonly accepted lunar calendar. Yet how to calculate the zodiac year remains a dispute. The following discussion will introduce two main viewpoints related to the Chinese zodiac calculation.

Method 1: A New Zodiac Sign Starts with Lichun
About half of the Chinese people insist that a new zodiac sign should start with Lichun (one of the 24 Solar Terms) instead of beginning with "the Spring Festival". They provide several reasons for this.

(1) The Chinese lunar calendar has been used since Han dynasty, and the traditional Spring Festival refers to "Lichun", which is the first of the Twenty-four Solar Terms. This theory has been circulated for thousands of years, forming an integral part of Chinese traditional culture.

(2) The date and time (shichen) for Lichun was exactly figured up by calendar scholars based on the rotation and revolution of the earth and it has accurate scientific basis. 

(3) The fundamental cycle rule for Lichun is 365 days while the rule for the Spring Festival is varied from years, short to 354 days and long to 384 days. 

(4) The Chinese almanac, as well as the traditional folklore, such as numerology and divination all regard “Lichun” as the basis of the zodiac.

Method 2: A New Zodiac Animal Begins with “Chuyi” (the first day of January in Chinese lunar calendar)
Another half of the Chinese people think that a new zodiac animal should begin with “Chuxi”. Their opinions are listed below. 

1. In the 2nd year of the Republic of China (1913), an official document stipulated that the Spring Festival begins on the first day of the first month in Chinese lunar calendar.

2. Some experts in folklore, eg. Zhao Shu, the chairman of Beijing folk association supports this theory. In his opinion, Lichun is a solar term, which is used by ancient Chinese to carry out agricultural production services. But it’s not the starting point of a year. It is possible to start early in the spring, or at the end of the year, even we cannot find this solar term in some years. However, the Spring festival, which is traditionally used for a living timing, represents the boundary between two years, so it should certainly be the start of a new zodiac year.

Method 3: Calculate Zodiac Mathematically
How to calculate your zodiac animal sign mathematically? Firstly, you should remember the zodiac animal chart below . Then divide your year of birth by 12 and read the remainder. If the number of your birth year can be divided with no remainder, then take the remainder as zero, i.e. your zodiac sign is monkey. Other remainders correspond to the animal signs in the chart.
 

Here are some examples for your reference.
 

Donald Trump was born in 1946.  1946/12=162 with remainder 2. So his zodiac sign is dog.	Audrey Hepburn was born in 1929. 1929/12=160 with remainder 9. So her zodiac sign is snake.