Chinese zodiac elements and the 60-year cycle

The year's Heavenly Stem. The ten stems run in pairs through Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, so each element lasts two years (one Yang, one Yin). The twelve animals come from the Earthly Branches, a separate cycle.

Because the ten stems repeat every ten years, the last digit of the year shows the element: 4 or 5 Wood, 6 or 7 Fire, 8 or 9 Earth, 0 or 1 Metal, 2 or 3 Water; even years are Yang and odd years Yin. It only works from Chinese New Year onward: someone born in January before New Year takes the previous year's element.

Each Earthly Branch also has a fixed element (the Rat is Water, the Horse is Fire, and so on). That is a different idea from the year's element, which changes every two years. On this site, the element of a year always means the stem element.

Ten stems and twelve branches combine into 60 pairs before repeating, from 甲子 (Jia-Zi, Wood Rat) to 癸亥 (Gui-Hai, Water Pig). The current cycle began with the Chinese New Year of 1984 and the next starts in 2044.