Chinese Zodiac Years Chart (1900–2043)

"What's my zodiac animal?" — the answer comes from the lunar year of your birth. The animal changes at Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year's Day), so anyone born before CNY belongs to the previous year's animal. The table below lists all 144 years from 1900 to 2043 with their stem-branch pair, animal, Nayin element and CNY date.

As with all traditions, treat the zodiac as a doorway to self-reflection and conversation — it describes a calendar, not a person's worth.

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Find your animal in three steps

1. Locate your birth year in the table — note that year's CNY date.
2. Born on or after CNY — read that year's animal.
3. Born before CNY — read the row above. Example: born Feb 4, 2027? CNY was Feb 6, so you belong to the 2026 Bing-Wu Horse.

🧭 The "Nayin" column is a traditional pairing of the 60 stem-branch pairs (one name per two years). Folk labels like "Metal in the Sea" come from this system — a cultural flavour note for the year pillar.

Spring Festival vs. Li Chun (Start of Spring)

Two conventions decide when the zodiac year begins:

• Spring Festival (mainstream): the zodiac changes on Lunar New Year's Day — the CNY column in this table. Daily life and most media use this one.
• Li Chun (charting): some charting schools switch at the Start of Spring solar term. Check the exact date in our almanac (e.g. Li Chun 2027 falls on Feb 4).

The two conventions only disagree within a few days around CNY; on every other date they agree.

The full chart · 1900–2043

FAQ

What animal is someone born in 2003?

2003 is the Gui-Wei Goat year (Nayin: Wood of the Willow), with CNY on Feb 1, 2003. Births before that date belong to the 2002 Ren-Wu Horse year.

Does a birth before CNY count as the previous animal?

Under the mainstream Spring-Festival convention, yes — the zodiac changes on Lunar New Year's Day. Li-Chun-based charting schools use the solar term instead; the two differ only within a few days around CNY.

What is Nayin, e.g. "Metal in the Sea"?

The 60 Gan-Zhi pairs are grouped in twos, and each pair is assigned one of thirty Nayin five-element names — Jia-Zi and Yi-Chou, for example, are "Metal in the Sea". People sometimes call themselves by their birth year's Nayin; it is a traditional, year-pillar-level descriptor.

What are 2026 and 2027?

2026 is the Bing-Wu Horse year (Nayin: Water of the Heavenly River), CNY Feb 17, 2026. 2027 is the Ding-Wei Goat year (also Water of the Heavenly River), CNY Feb 6, 2027. See 2027: Year of the Goat.

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The zodiac and Nayin are traditional calendrics for cultural study and self-reflection — not professional advice of any kind.