Chinese Zodiac Years Chart (1924-2043)

A complete lookup of the Chinese zodiac by year — the stem and branch name, the animal, the element, the polarity, and the exact date the year began. One hundred and twenty years is two full sixty-year cycles, which is enough to find any living person’s year and the year they will meet their own animal again.

Why the year has two names

Every year carries a stem and a branch. Ten stems cycle against twelve branches, and because ten and twelve only align every sixty years, the combination repeats once every sixty. The branch gives you the animal; the stem gives you the element and the polarity. That is why 1924 and 1984 are both Wood Rat years, and why 2024 is a Wood Dragon while 1964 was a Wood Dragon too.

The five elements — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water (五行, Wu Xing) — are a cycle of transformation in Chinese thought. They are not the Western fire/earth/air/water set. The two lists share some vocabulary and nothing else; do not map one onto the other, and be suspicious of any site that does.

The full table

Ben Ming Nian and Tai Sui

Two terms you will meet constantly once you start reading about your year:

• Ben Ming Nian (本命年) — your own animal’s year, which returns every twelve years. Traditionally treated as a year for consolidation rather than bold moves, and the origin of the red-underwear custom: red is worn to deflect the year’s attention.
• Tai Sui (太岁) — a deity whose position shifts each year. The animal of the year sits on Tai Sui; the opposite animal clashes with it; two others are said to harm or break it. This is where most “bad year” warnings come from, and it is a scheduling convention, not a prediction.

If you want the year ahead worked out for your own sign and element — month by month, with the specific cautions the tradition attaches to your position — that is the Ben Ming Nian year-ahead report.

Keep going

• Zodiac sign calculator — start from a date of birth instead of a year.
• Chinese zodiac compatibility — how any two animals are paired.
• Year-ahead report — your Ben Ming Nian, month by month.