Jade
Observatory
4 September 2026
12 Chinese Zodiac Signs
Enter your birth date to discover your zodiac animal, element, and lunar-year boundary.
Inside the calculation
The answer is more than an animal label. One date is checked against the Chinese New Year boundary, then translated into several clearly named calendar coordinates—with a route to learn what each one means.
Your result, decoded
The result page explains each term in place. Follow any underlined reading link when you want the fuller guide, then continue through the connected parts of the zodiac system.
No unexplained terminology. Every unfamiliar fact is paired with its meaning and a visible path onward.
The familiar zodiac animal is the readable face of one of twelve earthly branches. Your result names the animal and keeps the branch in view, so the symbol has a place in the larger cycle.
Meet the twelve animal branchesA zodiac year begins at Chinese New Year, not on 1 January. The calculator checks your date against that year’s real opening and closing dates—especially important for January and February births.
Check zodiac years and boundariesThe year’s heavenly stem adds Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water in a Yin or Yang form. This is why the same animal returns with a different quality across the sixty-year cycle.
See how year-stem elements workGan-Zhi joins one heavenly stem to one earthly branch. The calculator gives both the romanized name and Chinese characters, then the guide shows how to read each half of the pair.
Learn to read a Gan-Zhi nameThe day master comes from the first character of the date’s day pillar. It is shown separately from the year-stem element so two different calendar positions are not mistaken for competing verdicts.
Understand the day pillarOnce each birth date has a reliable animal and calendar context, you can compare two people. Compatibility is a next exploration—not a one-word score hidden inside the sign result.
Compare two birth datesBegin with the exact date
Enter a Gregorian birth date. The calculator handles the calendar boundary and returns the terms above in one connected reading.
Twelve animals repeat in a fixed cycle, each paired with an earthly branch. Every animal below opens a full guide with years, elements, traditional character, and compatibility.
Check a birth date The zodiac year changes at Chinese New Year, not 1 January.
Calendar boundary
The zodiac year begins at Chinese New Year, which falls between 21 January and 20 February. People born in January or early February often belong to the previous animal year, so their birth date must be checked against that year's exact boundary.
Begin your reading
