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Chinese zodiac vs Western zodiac: twelve animals against twelve signs
Both run on twelve, and that is where the resemblance ends. The Western zodiac divides the sky into twelve signs by month; the Chinese zodiac counts twelve years, one animal to a year.
The short answer
Twelve months against twelve years
A Western sign comes from which of the twelve thirty-degree segments of the ecliptic the Sun stood in at birth, so the sign changes every month on fixed dates. A Chinese animal comes from the birth year: the twelve animals run in a fixed order, one a year, so the same animal returns every twelve years.
The Chinese side also carries an element on a ten-year cycle; animal and element together make the sixty-year cycle, 六十甲子. The Western side assigns its four elements by sign instead, three signs to each.
What each one is used for
A Western sign is read for character and for daily or yearly horoscopes. A Chinese animal is read for character in the same broad way, and then for its relations with other animals and with the current year — the twelve-year table of harmony and opposition.
Both are entry points into larger systems rather than the systems themselves. Here the reading is written from the full chart: twelve palaces and the stars in them.
Which one you are looking for
For Western signs, their elements and horoscopes by date, that is the Western side of the sky. This site publishes no horoscopes.
Here you can look up the animal and the element from a birth year, see the twelve-year relations between any two animals, and take a reading written from the full chart.
All readings See a completed reading first Cast your chart first — free
Questions
Which animal am I if I was born in January?
The zodiac year begins at Chinese New Year, which falls in late January or February; a birth date before it belongs to the previous year's animal. The zodiac page states that boundary.
Is my Chinese animal the same as my Western sign?
They run on different cycles — one from the year, one from the month and the Sun's position — so a person has one of each.
Do the animals say who I am compatible with?
They give the classical relation between two animals. A compatibility reading takes the two full charts instead.