Chinese Animals

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Chinese Animals." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/chinese-animals.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Chinese Animals. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/chinese-animals

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-chinese-animals,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Chinese Animals},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/chinese-animals},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig), name the twelve-year cycle and the twelve earthly branches that also mark hours, months and directions. The animal names are attached to the branches, which are the older and more fundamental series. The system spread across East and Southeast Asia with local substitutions: Vietnam counts a cat where China counts a rabbit.

Facts

Overview

What Defines This Grouping

The twelve animals of the Chinese twelve-year cycle, an overlay on the older duodenary series of earthly branches. Not spirit animals or totems, and not the twelve signs of the Western zodiac; both are held as their own categories. 1

Size of the Traditional Set

12 animals 1

Origins

Place of Origin

China; carried with the branch cycle across Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Mongolia, Tibet and much of Southeast Asia, where local versions substitute some animals 1

Status

Status Today

Living tradition, practised today 1

Learn More

The Twelve Animals of the Chinese Zodiac

The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig), name the twelve-year cycle and are attached to the twelve earthly branches that also mark the hours, months and directions. A person born in a given year is said to have that year's animal, with a character traditionally ascribed to it.

The animal names are a popular and memorable overlay on the older branch system, and the cycle is among the best-known features of Chinese and wider East Asian calendrical culture, marked at the New Year and used in popular astrology and compatibility.

Character and compatibility

Each animal carries a set of traits and, in popular astrology, relations of compatibility and conflict with the others, certain animals said to harmonise, others to clash, and the pairing of the animal with the year's stem-phase (a wood tiger, a fire horse) refines the reading. The system is used for character, luck and matchmaking across the region.

The atlas gives each animal its traits, its branch and its compatibilities. The earthly branches the animals name, and the stems they combine with, are treated in their own categories under Eastern Systems.

Cross-Tradition Connections