Is my Chinese zodiac sign just my birth year animal?

The year animal is one branch out of eight characters. A full chart pairs a stem with a branch for the year, month, day and hour — and the day stem, the Day Master, is the one the other three are read against. Most popular Chinese astrology uses only the first of the four.

Why does my sign change around Chinese New Year?

Two boundaries are in common use and they disagree by days or weeks. Many zodiac calendars turn the animal year at Chinese New Year; Four Pillars practice turns the stem-branch year at Li Chun, the start-of-spring solar term in early February. A birth between them carries one label under each convention.

Is this a Four Pillars chart?

Yes. It shows the year, month, day and hour pillars with their stems and branches, and names the Ten Gods relationships between the visible stems and the Day Master. A fuller reading may also consider hidden stems, luck cycles and the balance of the chart.

Why does the month animal depend on my birth time?

The stem-branch months begin at solar terms, which are astronomical events with a time of day, not calendar dates. Li Chun 2021 occurred at 22:58 China Standard Time on 3 February; the calculator converts that instant with the entered birth-place UTC offset.

What is the Day Master?

The stem of the day pillar. In Four Pillars it stands for the person, and every other character in the chart is read by how it relates to that one phase — whether it generates it, is generated by it, controls it, or is controlled by it.

Calculated chart · four time scales

Your layered profile

5 February 2000UTC+08:00 birth-place offsetChinese New Year outer yearLi Chun Four Pillars chart

Start with the familiar Dragon year, then read inward through month, day and hour. Every coordinate below opens into the guide that explains it.

年 · 月 · 日 · 時Year, month, day and hour nested in one moment

Four coordinates · one moment

Your chart at a glance

The familiar zodiac year is shown first. Month, day and hour then place the same birth inside progressively smaller cycles.

01Outer · Chinese zodiac year
庚辰
Yang Metal Dragon
5 February 2000 – 23 January 2001
Dragon branch Metal phase Year boundary
02Inner · Month
戊寅
Yang Earth Tiger
Opens 4 February 2000 at 20:40 (UTC+08:00) · Start of Spring (立春 Lìchūn)
Tiger branch Solar-term months
03Day · Day Master
癸巳
Yin Water Snake
Day stem 癸 Gui is the chart's Day Master.
癸 Gui How Ten Gods are named
04Secret · Hour
—
Time not supplied
Use a local birth time to calculate the fourth pillar.
Add a birth time Double-hour map

Outer-year record

How 2000 gets its name

The year name joins one Heavenly Stem to one Earthly Branch. Open any underlined value to follow that coordinate into the reference.

Heavenly Stem: 庚 Geng · Yang Metal
Earthly Branch: 辰 Chen (Dragon)
Five phase: Metal
Polarity: Yang
Zodiac-year dates: 5 February 2000 – 23 January 2001

Four Pillars · 四柱

The chart beneath the animal labels

Each column joins a Heavenly Stem above an Earthly Branch below. The relation line names how each visible stem stands to the Day Master.

01Year pillar年柱
庚辰
Yang Metal Dragon
Stem
庚 Geng · Yang Metal
Branch
辰 Chen · Dragon
To Day Master
正印 Direct Resource
Turns at Li Chun for the Four Pillars chart.
02Month pillar月柱
戊寅
Yang Earth Tiger
Stem
戊 Wu · Yang Earth
Branch
寅 Yin · Tiger
To Day Master
正官 Direct Officer
Opened by Start of Spring.
03Day pillar日柱
癸巳
Yin Water Snake
Stem
癸 Gui · Yin Water
Branch
巳 Si · Snake
To Day Master
日主 Day Master
The reference stem for the rest of the chart.
04Hour pillar時柱
Time not supplied
Add a birth time
A local birth time is required.

癸 Gui is the Day Master. It is a coordinate, not a complete interpretation by itself. Read the relationship rule →

Current cycle · 流年

2026 annual pillar

流年 means the running year. Its stem is read against the Day Master, and its branch is compared with each branch in the natal chart.

Running year: 丙午 Yang Fire Horse
Li Chun boundary: 4 February 2026
Annual stem: 丙 Bing · Yang Fire
Annual stem to Day Master: 正财 Direct WealthFire is controlled by the Day Master; the polarities are different.

午 Wu · Horse

How the annual Horse meets your natal branches

A shared three-branch group is named as a shared group; two branches alone do not complete the full group.

01Year pillar辰 Dragon
No named fixed relationship
02Month pillar寅 Tiger
Shared Three Harmony group 三合 — Tiger · Horse · Dog → Fire
03Day pillar巳 Snake
Shared Three Meeting group 三会 — Snake · Horse · Goat → summer / Fire

Visible phase balance

What this chart is made of

Each pillar carries a phase in its stem and another in its branch. The 6 visible characters below are the first layer a reading compares with the Day Master.

癸

Yin WaterDay Master · 日主

Open this phase

Wood1 / 6
is generated by the Day Master
Fire1 / 6
is controlled by the Day Master
Earth2 / 6
controls the Day Master
Metal1 / 6
generates the Day Master
Water1 / 6
same phase as the Day Master

All five phases appear in this chart. See how all five phases relate

Cycle year 2000 · 庚辰 Geng–Chen

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Explore another date

Change the date or local time and the full result recalculates.

Calculation method, boundaries and source notes

Your chart at a glance

Yang Metal Dragon

Yang Earth Tiger

Yin Water Snake

Time not supplied