Chinese Birth Year Signs

Welcome to Chinese Birth Year Signs which gives you the background to the signs and tells you the sign for each year of birth from 1924 until 2019. In the Chinese Calendar it is believed that the animal ruling the year in which a person is born has a profound influence on personality saying "This is the animal that hides in your heart"There are 12 animals and so each animal features every twelve years. This is considered a useful source of information for card makers and scrapbookers to inspire designs for Birthday, Birth of a Baby, Happy Chinese New Year cards or scrapbook pages




The 12 Chinese animal signs are a 12-year cycle used for dating the years. For everyday administrative use the Chinese have used the Western calendar since 1911, but the lunar calendar is still used for festive occasions such as the Chinese New Year.

In the Chinese calendar, because it is lunar, the beginning of the year is not fixed, it falls somewhere between late January and early February.

Each year is assigned an animal name or "sign" according to a repeating cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Therefore, every twelve years the same animal name or "sign" reappears.

Chinese Birth Year Signs

What determined the order starting with rat and ending with boar?

Legend has it that the twelve animals quarreled as to who was to be first in the cycle and a contest was held. The object was to reach the opposite bank of the river and the animals would receive their years according to their finish.

The twelve animals gathered at the river bank and jumped in. The rat jumped on the ox's back and as the ox neared the shore, the sneaky rat jumped off and won the race. The lazy pig, came last.

Chinese Birth Year Signs

The following table covers the period 1924-2019

Rat 1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996 2008
Ox 1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997 2009
Tiger 1926 1938 1950 1962 1974 1986 1998 2010
Rabbit 1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999 2011
Dragon 1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000 2012
Snake 1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001 2013
Horse 1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002 2014
Sheep 1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003 2015
Monkey 1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004 2016
Rooster 1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005 2017
Dog 1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006 2018
Boar 1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007 2019


We all know a rat or two, thankfully the occasional tiger, a few snakes, several sheep, the odd cheeky monkey, more dogs than you can shake a stick at, and a few bores. So plenty of inspiration there, then.No, but seriously, this might be useful for the special birthdays, that is, in 2010,

18th born 1992 Monkey
21st born 1989 Snake
30th born 1980 Monkey
40th born 1970 Dog
50th born 1960 Rat
60th born 1950 Tiger
70th born 1940 Dragon
80th born 1930 Horse

The animal could inspire the design on the card front and here's a template verse that could be used

Today, you're (30), born in ('80)
According to Chinese legend, ah so
There's an animal lurking inside you
You're a (Monkey), don't ya know

Strictly speaking, it is about the year of birth but the concept needn't be confined to just birthday cards. Anniversary cards could use this theme, the year representing the birth of the subject's marriage.

This is not intended as a detailed study. Click the following if you seek more details about Chinese Birth Year Signs